Chancellor Rachel Reeves has divided opinion after announcing that the Winter Fuel Allowance will be scrapped for millions of pensioners.
The benefit had been dished out to the elderly to ensure that they can keep on top of energy bills during colder months when useage soars.
Now there are fears that axeing the funds will push pensioners into poverty as they dip into their savings just to keep on top of energy bills.
It follows horrific reports that elderly people were already having to choose between eating and heating amid historically high energy costs over the past couple of years.
But the Chancellor insists that an economic “black hole” is forcing her to make tough decisions, one of which is to apply means-testing to those applying for the Winter Fuel Payment.
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In the landmark speech on Monday, July 30, Britain’s first female chancellor set out a number of other initiatives that were being scrapped.
These included the social care costs cap, the New Hospitals Programme to build 40 new facilities by 2030 and a tunnel under Stonehenge.
Campaigners were incensed by the Government’s announcement on the Winter Fuel Payment, with Silver Voices branding it a “cruel” measure and insisting that blaming it on the Conservative Party‘s stewardship of the economy “does not wash”.
Silver Voices’ Dennis Reed said: “The scrapping of the allowance for most pensioners is a targeted attack on those who have devoted their working lives to this nation and who are least able to fight back.
“The Chancellor knows that this measure will greatly increase pensioner poverty.”
Dame Harriet Baldwin, a Tory MP and former chair of the Treasury committee, branded the move a “chilling political choice” as it emerged that having £11,350 a year was is enough to lose the Winter Fuel Payment.
