Calls to 'scrap' Winter Fuel Allowance and instead 'extend' DWP Warm Homes Discount

James Rodger
·2-min read

There are calls to to scrap the Winter Fuel Allowance and spend the cash on properly targeted help. Campaigners are calling for the Warm Home Discount to be extended with the Winter Fuel Payment scheme axed - because it "wastes" taxpayer cash.

PoliticsHome has aruged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should increase the Warm Homes Discount scheme, which has risen £10 since 2014, and proives £150 to eligible households. The Winter Fuel Payment, meanwhile, costs the public purse £2 billion and is given to everybody who is over 65, or live with someone who is.

The site warns: "This means a lot of public money is going to households that frankly don’t need it, especially considering around 45 per cent of pensioner households have above average incomes. A better way forward would be to expand the WHD and scrap the WFP scheme."

READ MORE DWP 'scandal' grows as 156,000 people told to 'pay back' their money

PoliticsHome has also called for a "tiered" system with five rates, of £250, £280, £325, £400 and £550. Last year, the Tory government confirmed winter fuel payments will not be scrapped for all but the poorest pensioners following speculation.

One source told Sky News that the option was part of conversations, but that Number 10 didn’t want to risk public speculation on such an “emotive” issue. A Government spokesman said: "We have protected pensioners with the biggest State Pension increase in history this year as well as boosting Pension Credit - worth around £3,500 a year for those on the lowest incomes.

"On top of Winter Fuel Payments, pensioners will get another £300 this winter to help with essential costs, and we are bearing down on inflation to make everyone's money go further." You can get a Winter Fuel Payment if you were born before September 25, 1957.

You will usually need to live in the UK, though some circumstances may mean you are eligible if you live abroad.

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