Thousands of pensioners with younger partners will be worse off this year after Labour cut the winter fuel allowance.
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have blamed their decision to scale back winter fuel payments on a £22bn black hole in public finances. About 10 million pensioners will lose the benefit, worth up to £300, as a result.
The payments will only go to retirees claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits this winter – but some pensioners will not be eligible because they have a younger partner.
Pensioners with a partner of working age are blocked from accessing pension credit. So-called “mixed age” couples used to qualify for pension credit – worth on average £3,900 per year – once the older person reached state pension age. But under rules introduced in 2019, they must now wait until the younger person is old enough.
As a result, an estimated 60,000 couples cannot claim pension credit. Now, thousands of them will also lose out on help with their energy bills this winter.
However, some may be able to keep the payments provided they can claim Universal Credit instead.
Pension credit is only paid to retirees with a weekly income of less than £218.15.
Kate Smith, of pensions firm Aegon, said: “This is a rather unfortunate ‘cliff edge‘ of the rules which could leave thousands of ‘mixed age’ couples out in the cold this winter.”
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, of consultants LCP, said: “Following recent changes, couples with one partner over pension age and one under now come under the less generous working age benefits system.
“If they are on a very low income they may still qualify for Universal Credit (UC) and be able to retain their winter fuel payment, but the income cut-off for UC is very low.
“As a result, there will be low income pensioners who miss out on their winter fuel payment purely because they have a partner under pension age.”
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Labour has refused to row back on the plans despite Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pushing for a vote in the House of Commons.
On Sunday, the leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, defended cutting the benefit for pensioners on the grounds there could have been a “run on the pound” if the Government had not taken action to fix the public finances.
“The reason we are doing that is because the deficit was much higher than anyone thought, spending was higher than anyone thought,” she told BBC Breakfast.
“If we hadn’t taken that action we’d have seen a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that are the poorest, including pensioners and those on fixed incomes. That stability is really important for living standards.”