214,000 more pensioners got fuel help last winter ahead of Reeves’s plan to cut payments

More than 200,000 extra pensioners received winter fuel payments last winter taking the overall number of claimants up to 11.6 million, new government figures show.

The number of elderly people receiving hand-outs rose by 1.9 per cent, or 214,000 payments, year-on-year. While over 99 per cent of recipients were in the UK, 34,300 people received the winter fuel payment while living in Europe.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that the cash payments will now be means-tested. Only people in receipt of pension credit, a payment that offers extra support for those on a low-income, or who are eligible for other benefits will be given the winter fuel payments this winter.

The winter fuel payments, which were introduced in 1997, range between £100 and £300 to help people heat their homes. However last winter people were given an additional “cost-of-living” payment of either £150 or £300.

Some 8.5 million households were given fuel help last winter - an increase of around 140,000 families from the previous year.

Under plans to slash the number of people receiving payments, the government estimates that around 1.3 million households in England and Wales will continue to receive help with winter fuel this coming festive season. However they think that around 780,000 pensioners who are eligible for the continued payments will miss out because they have not signed up for the benefits they are entitled to.

Are you impacted by the cuts to the Winter Fuel Payments? Get in touch at holly.bancroft@independent.co.uk

Charity Age UK estimates that up to 2 million vulnerable pensioners who rely on the payments will miss out this winter due to the narrow requirements. They are worried about people who just miss out on Pension Credit because their low incomes are slightly too high for them to be eligible.

Responding to the new figures published by the Department of Work and Pensions on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat spokesperson Steve Darling MP said: “Hundreds of thousands more pensioners are now set to lose out on these desperately needed payments that protect so many from having to choose between heating and eating.

“Cutting these payments for pensioners, which include millions who are just scraping by and are now worried about how they will get through the winter, is totally wrong.”

A Labour conference showdown on the issue is expected on Wednesday as Unite and the Communication Workers Union have put forward motions to debate the policy and push for its reversal.