Winter fuel payment cut could 'put thousands of Glasgow pensioners in jeopardy'
Councillors are being urged to demand the UK Government reconsider its plan to cut winter fuel payments, as the move could "put thousands of pensioners in Glasgow in jeopardy”.
MPs voted to remove the allowance for all but the poorest pensioners this afternoon (Tuesday) despite criticism from opposition parties.
Cllr Malcolm Mitchell, SNP, is set to bring a motion to a full Glasgow council meeting on Thursday, which urges the government to review the cut.
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He wants the council to “join campaigners and charities, calling for the UK Labour Government to change course”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in July that the payment, of up to £300, would only be made to those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits in England and Wales. The change is expected to save £1.4 billion.
It left the Scottish Government with a £160 million funding shortfall, which social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said meant it had “no choice” but to also scrap the universal payment.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Cllr Mitchell said the “raid” by chancellor Rachel Reeves will “put thousands of pensioners in Glasgow in jeopardy whilst Scottish households pay some of the highest electricity standing charges in the whole of the UK”.
He said he has been in touch with local pensioners groups to advise them how to claim pension credits and other potential benefits through agencies like Drumchapel Money Advice and Citizens Advice.
Cllr Mitchell added: “The increase in energy bills again — 65% above what they were before the ‘crisis’ — has made raising awareness all the more urgent before the qualifying week for 2024 winter fuel payments ends on September 22.
“The winter fuel payment cut is made even worse knowing that the new Labour government has allowed energy companies to increase their profit margins by another 11%.”
The motion asks the council to agree with the End Fuel Poverty coalition that the government’s decision will “see more vulnerable people succumb to health complications from living in cold and damp conditions”.
He also wants councillors to agree the Scottish Government has “been left with no choice but to replicate plans to means-test the winter fuel payment”.
Cllr Mitchell is calling for the council to make clear to the chancellor that “she must abandon the path of fiscal austerity and commit to a programme of investment in public services”.
Cllr Anne McTaggart, SNP, moved a motion in March that called for “a cast-iron guarantee” that WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women would receive full compensation.
She will second Cllr Mitchell’s motion, which asks the chief executive to write to the UK pensions minister to “highlight that six months later she still has not responded”.
Glasgow MPs would also receive a letter asking them to call for justice for WASPI women and “stop the jeopardy other pensioners are being placed in” if the motion passes.
Cllr McTaggart said: “I moved an emergency motion earlier in March that the then UK chancellor of the exchequer and his Labour counterpart needed to provide a cast-iron guarantee that women would receive full compensation after the UK Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman confirmed in a report that WASPI women suffered injustice.
“A six month wait for a response is nothing like the wait WASPI women have endured. The WASPI campaign estimates 20,000 women will have died since I raised this with Rachel Reeves; it is now nearing 3 million in total.
“WASPI women pensioners don’t need warm words: they are due their rights and money – instead they are being frozen out.”
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