No guarantee on winter fuel payments for Scottish pensioners

No decision has been made by the Scottish Government about whether it will retain the universal winter fuel payment for pensioners following the UK Government’s decision to make the benefit means-tested.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed in a statement on Monday that only pensioners in receipt of pension credit or other benefits would be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment.

That payment is due to be devolved to the Scottish Government from this autumn and ministers had planned to replace it like-for-like with the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.

But the shift away from universality by Reeves will reduce the amount of money that would otherwise have come to Scotland to pay for it.

Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee said the Scottish Government now had “difficult decisions” to make. Asked whether there would be a move to making the payment means-tested in Scotland, he said that was “being looked at as we speak”.

He said: “We’ll have to very closely look at what we can do. We’d very much like to keep the universal aspect of that benefit, but we need to look at the numbers very, very closely.”

The Scottish Government had expected to receive about £180m in Barnett consequentials from the UK Government’s spending in England and Wales on the payment.

It is not yet clear how much that will be cut by, though McKee suggested it would be in the region of £100m.

Scottish ministers have previously chosen to mitigate cuts to benefits made by the UK Government – for example the bedroom tax – but need to find cash within their budget to do so. Ministers have repeatedly warned how tight public finances are.

Reeves told MPs that the decision was not one her government “wanted to make”, but argued it was “necessary and urgent” given the state of public finances.

Placing the blame firmly with the previous UK Government under the Conservatives, she accused her predecessors of creating a £22bn “black hole” which had previously not been reported.

Age Scotland, a charity for older people, has urged the UK Government to “look again” at the decision. Chief executive Katherine Crawford said: “This move will effectively take money away from some of the lowest income pensioners in Scotland. There are currently more than 150,000 pensioners living in poverty in this country, and we know that many more are living on incomes just above the pension credit threshold. They will now miss out on a payment which could help them heat their homes and stay warm over winter.
“I would urge the UK Government to look again at this decision, which affects older people who are already struggling with the high cost of living and will now face being worse off at a time they desperately need support.”

The charity also estimates 123,000 pensioners in Scotland are eligible for pension credit but don’t claim it, and therefore will lose access to the winter payment scheme.