‘Evil’ plan to reduce access to winter fuel allowance leaves pensioners feeling ‘ashamed’! B
After MPs voted to cut the winter fuel payment for all but the country’s poorest pensioners, one former monk tells Sky News the plans are “evil” and have left his friends feeling “ashamed” at having to apply for means testing.
“I’m deeply concerned about the winter,” 81-year-old Kevin McGrath tells me when I meet him at his home in Corby, Northamptonshire.
He is recovering from a major eye operation when we sit down to chat, but he cannot contain his frustration.
The former Roman Catholic monk turned social worker said he has spent all of his life trying to help people and described Labour’s plan to take the winter fuel allowance away from millions of pensioners as “evil”.
“Of all the wealth in Britain, they target the ones who have very little in life,” he said.
Kevin and his wife recently moved into a small, two-bedroom apartment on the edge of town to cut down on energy bills.
Neither have a private pension and their only source of income is their state pension.
In July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that from this winter, pensioners in England and Wales will no longer be entitled to the winter fuel payment unless they receive Pension Credit or certain other means-tested benefits.
More than 10 million pensioners in England and Wales received the winter fuel payment last winter.
The government says the move will help them plug an estimated £22bn black hole in the public finances.
“I fully understand th at the government has difficult decisions to make, but why are they starting at the bottom, why don’t they start at the top. It’s evil. It’s a crime,” said Kevin.
“Who decides that we haven’t got enough money to live on? I speak to my friends who tell me they are ashamed and embarrassed to have to go through this process. These are people who have worked all of their lives.”
Data shared exclusively with Sky News by the charity Independent Age reveals growing concern about the policy among older people.
In August, the number of calls about pension credit, one of the main factors in assessing eligibility, was three-and-a-half times higher than the average for the first six months of the year.
And more than two in five calls in the same month were about pension credit, up from one in six in the first half of the year.
Independent Age chief executive Joanna Elson CBE said: “This data from our helpline clearly shows that many people in later life are worried about the UK government’s decision to limit the winter fuel payment to those that receive pension credit.
“The people we speak to are frightened about losing a vital lifeline this winter, many are struggling on a low income and will be forced to make drastic cutbacks.
“Others tell us it is the first time they have reached out for support, as the winter ahead feels very bleak.”
The charity says it is urging the government to delay its plans to means test the winter fuel payment until more people can apply for pension credit.
