More than 80,000 pensioners in Cheshire East are to lose their winter fuel allowance under the Labour government’s plans, the Conservatives have claimed.
The government announced from this year that only those in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits will get the annual payments, worth between £100 and £300.
Cllr Janet Clowes, of Wybunbury ward and leader of the Conservative group on Cheshire East Council, said analysis of Department for Work and Pensions figures show more than 80,000 people across the borough will be at least £250 worse off this winter.
And it claims many of these are in some of its most deprived areas.
She is calling for action to support low-income pensioners.
Cllr Clowes said: “Many of the 80,000 pensioners set to lose their winter fuel payment may have incomes just above the threshold for pension credit and these payments were a lifeline.
“Cheshire East Conservatives are deeply concerned about the impact on pensioners, especially those who are already finding it hard to make ends meet and where prices and council tax are still rising.
“For more than 20 years, both Labour and Conservative governments have committed to maintaining winter fuel payments, along with free NHS prescriptions and bus travel.
“This new approach is a bitter blow.”
The Tory group leader added: “The Labour-Independent leadership of Cheshire East Council is already committed to cuts in services that will further impact on the vulnerable elderly, including cutting the emergency assistance scheme and raising care costs, a significant financial outlay for many pensioners.
“We are asking that, at the very least, the Labour-led administration works with community partners across the borough to support pensioners to navigate this additional financial pressure, including claiming pension credit if they are eligible.
“Whilst some pensioners in Cheshire East will cope without the winter fuel payment, it’s clear this policy will have a far wider impact than currently acknowledged.”
Nationally, about 10 million pensioners are expected to lose out on the winter fuel allowance.
When new chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the change, she said it was to fill a £22 billion ‘black hole’ left in the public purse by the former Conservative government.
(Story by Belinda Ryan, local democracy reporter. Library image for display purposes only)
The Unions Hostage Govt has to conjure up funds from somewhere to alleviate the suffering of our destitute Junior Doctors and put food on the table for the poverty stricken Train Drivers? 🤣…
Standby for a raft of imaginative new ‘Tricks’ in the Autumn Budget, not mentioned in their Manifesto, that will Impact ‘EVERYBODY’ for sure! ☠️
Check the Daily Mail website site for the energy claims made by now Cabinet members. Take back with one hand and put in their bank with the other comes to mind.
Baby boomers and pensioners have had their cake for decades and now want to eat more at the expense of those paying for those pensions whilst not being able to afford to live. Sorry – both my father and my father in law earn more than me and they are in their 70s and haven’t worked for 20 years and have all different tax avoidance schemes that assist growing their wealth. We need to get that money into growing this country.
The country is in a financial mess. We have:
– local authorities in huge debts
– the NHS having lack of resources due to decades of underinvestment
– welfare dependency
– social care issues ( we are all living longer and need more support)
– the list continues…
None of this is fixed for free – those that can need to pay more tax, the well off need to pay more tax. None of the above can come for free.
Its not about finger pointing and saying it would be better under some utopian future under a different government.
Wake up…compromises need to be made.
Yes, we should have stuck with the Conservatives things were much better under them 🤣
Making a two-tier system for pensioners. Not only have I lost the winter fuel allowance, but like so many others, I am now faced with a hike of an extra £174 on my electricity because OFGEM increased the price cap from October. On top of that I have to find £547.00 for smokeless coal (because in UK you are not allowed to buy cheaper coal because of green issues) and £279 for kiln dried wood for open fire, which I need, as I cannot afford to run electric radiators virtually 24/7. Government say I don’t need the WFA, just because I don’t get pension credit. Lesson learned – DON’T WORK 50 YEARS as you only get triple, quadruple taxed in your retirement and worse than sh** in Government eyes. DISGRUNTLED AND SCREWED OVER PENSIONER. Liebour, should be ashamed of themselves, especially when Starmer famously on camera, told a story about a pensioner who couldn’t afford to put her heating on, whilst he was in ‘opposition’ YET does a complete UTURN and stuffs pensioners.
Well some of you voted for change, this is just the start of that change, that’s the problem when you vote a party in who never told you what change looks like.