Extra help to keep warm this winter
WINTER fuel payments of up to £300 are a vital lifeline to pensioners struggling to make ends meet through the colder months.
And with energy bills set to soar and a triple-lock state pension pay rise ruled out, they have never been more needed.
But while bills have risen, it’s been more than a decade since the tax-free fuel payments increased.
Data from regulator Ofgem shows that the cheapest tariff from the Big Six providers in January 2012 was £915. Yesterday, the cheapest tariff available from a Big Six provider was £1,276 — an increase of more than £350.
Currently, those born on or before September 26, 1955, are eligible for between £100 and £300 to go towards their heating bills.
Prior to the last increase, winter fuel payments had risen every year since they were introduced.
The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) says it is time the Government unfreezes the scheme.
NPC General Secretary Jan Shortt says: ‘The fuel allowance has been frozen for a decade but utility bills continue to rise at a fast and furious rate.
‘Together with all other attacks on pensioner income, this winter looks likely to be particularly hard on older people.
‘Increasing the fuel allowance would at least be something the Government could do to support them, so they do not always have to make decisions about whether to eat, or to heat their homes.’
It comes as analysis from Age UK revealed one in five women pensioners are living in poverty.
The charity has warned that the suspension of the triple lock — which guarantees state pensions rise in-line with whichever is the highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5 pc — will be catastrophic for the UK’s poorest pensioners.
Charity director Caroline Abrahams says: ‘The winter fuel payment provides a vital financial lifeline to many older people on lower and middle incomes over the cold winter months.
‘With tens of thousands of excess winter deaths each year in this country, mostly of older people, and more than two million pensioners living in poverty, having enough money to keep the heating turned up when it’s bitter can be literally a life-or-death matter.’
It would take a state pensioner more than six weeks to pay off an energy bill at the current price cap. But next month the price cap will rise to £1,277 — meaning it would take seven weeks of state pension payments to afford.
It is poised to rise again when it is reviewed in April, meaning it could take upwards of two months to pay off with the state pension.
But not everybody is convinced that the best way to support pensioners is winter fuel payments.
Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensioners minister, says: ‘[They] are not means-tested, so they tend to benefit the UK’s wealthiest pensioners more. It’s right to recognise the needs of pensioners this winter and offer them proper support. Maybe the Government could add a heating element to the pension credit. But it would be a shame to give lots of extra income to pensioners who don’t need it.’
There is further support available on the Government website. This includes cold-weather payments of £25 for those on certain state benefits, warm home discounts worth £140 for those receiving the guaranteed credit part of Pension Credit or on low-income, and grants from energy trusts.