Anas Sarwar: Scottish Labour government will bring back Winter Fuel Payment

Scottish Labour will bring back the Winter Fuel Payment if it wins next year's Holyrood elections, Anas Sarwar has said.

The universal benefit for older people was ended this summer after Labour took office at Westminster.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves scrapped the payment for most pensioners, worth between £100 and £300, in August, saying Labour had inherited a £22bn "black hole" in the public finances from the Conservatives.

Scotland's social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Scottish Government had "no choice" but to follow in suit, claiming the ensuing £160m cut to the SNP administration's funding meant it could not afford to continue with universal entitlement to its replacement benefit, the Pension Age Winter Heating Allowance.

On both sides of the border, the benefit is now restricted to those in receipt of pension credit, which is one of the welfare payments with the lowest uptake.

Efforts have now been made to ensure more pensioners on low income apply for that.

But the charity Age Scotland said the shift would hit around 200,000 Scottish pensioners living in poverty or just above the poverty line.

In a vote brought by First Minister John Swinney, MSPs called on the UK Government to reverse its decision.

Now Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said his party will restore the payments if elected to government in 2026.

He said the funding delivered to Scotland in the latest UK budget means the move is affordable.

Devolved tax and welfare powers would be used to "taper the level of support given to the wealthiest households" to "deliver a fairer system for all", Scottish Labour said.

Sarwar commented: "The Winter Fuel Payment was supposed to be a devolved benefit this year and there were additional resources available to the Scottish Government through the Household Support Fund.

"That meant we could have taken a different approach in Scotland to support more households this year - instead, the SNP decided to hand the power back to the DWP.

"For months I have said that the eligibility criterion of pension credit is too low and called for a Scottish solution to this issue.

 "That’s why Scottish Labour will take back this devolved power from the DWP, reinstate the Winter Fuel Payment, and deliver a fairer system to ensure that everyone who needs support gets it.

 "A UK Labour government is clearing up the mess left by a chaotic Tory government – here in Scotland, people are demanding a new direction and in 2026 we have the opportunity to deliver it with a Scottish Labour government."

The news comes after the coldest early winter night in Scotland since 1998.

Temperatures dropped below -10C in parts of northern Scotland, hitting a record low of -11.2C in Braemar, Aberdeenshire.

Consultancy Cornwall Insight has predicted that energy bills will rise again in the new year, taking the typical UK bill to more than £1700 per year. 

Costs went up 10 per cent last month.