Major update over Winter Fuel Payment shake-up because 'it makes sense'

Sir Keir Starmer has broken silence over a shake up to Winter Fuel Payments - saying it "makes sense". The new Labour Party government leader has addressed the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) shaking up the £300 payouts.

Starmer has said it “makes sense to make the change” to winter fuel payments when asked why he was “picking a fight with the pensioners”. However, the Prime Minister added that there were decisions made in the Budget which he would have preferred “not to have had to make”.

Sir Keir said: “Without the change that we’re putting in place at the moment, the allowance goes to everyone, whether they need it or not, and therefore there are many who don’t need it because they’re relatively wealthy.

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“And I think most people would say that doesn’t make sense when you’ve got a really, really difficult, tight budget – We’ve got to deliver for our NHS, for our schools, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got public services that people can rely on, including, of course, pensioners.

“So it makes sense to make the change.” He said it is “important to protect pensioners who most need the allowance” and urged people who are eligible for pension credit to take it up.

And when asked about whether he would come to regret his decision to make changes to the winter fuel allowance, the Prime Minister said: “There are lots of decisions we had to make in the Budget which, to be perfectly honest, I’d have preferred not to have had to make.

“But when you inherit a broken economy, when you then find out there was £22 billion which doesn’t appear on the books, and you’d need to balance the books, very, very difficult decisions have to be made.” He said that the Government is “making sure that those entitled to pension credit are protected through this”, and added: “There are a number of people who are entitled to pension credit who aren’t claiming it, and it’s very important that (…) they take up that entitlement.”