Hundreds of thousands of pensioners to face 'stealth raid' on winter fuel payouts
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners will face a stealth raid on their revived winter fuel payments, experts claim.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a humiliating U-turn this week that will see the payment restored to nine million pensioners this winter.
Only those with taxable incomes of more than £35,000 a year will lose out, under the new proposals.
But neither Downing Street nor the Treasury would guarantee yesterday that the new threshold would rise in line with inflation in future years, meaning thousands more pensioners are likely to lose their annual payments as the state pension increases.
The payments are worth £200 a year to most pensioner households or £300 where one person is over 80.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) yesterday said cutting the winter fuel allowance last year had been 'the right thing' to do as the economy was 'broken' when Labour came to office, meaning 'difficult decisions' were needed to shore up the public finances
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, now a partner at the pension consultants LCP, said: 'The Government's own figures clearly suggest they expect the number of losers from the new policy to rise each year.
'With around two million pensioners currently over the £35,000 threshold, this number could easily rise by another half a million by 2030.'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer yesterday said cutting the winter fuel allowance last year had been 'the right thing' to do as the economy was 'broken' when Labour came to office, meaning 'difficult decisions' were needed to shore up the public finances.
He also claimed that the economy has since 'stabilised', allowing the decision to hand back the payments to more pensioners.
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