Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that the universal winter fuel payments (WFP) will end.
This payment, previously available to all pensioners, will now be means-tested.
Gillian Cooper, Director of Energy Policy at Citizens Advice, expressed concern about the impact on low income households.
She noted that many might have to choose between heating their homes and buying food.
Ms Cooper also highlighted the need for better-targeted support for those in desperate need, including low-income families and pensioners.
She said: “Millions of households on low incomes face living in a cold home this winter, with many forced to make the impossible choice between heating or eating.
“As we go into this winter, we need to see targeted support with energy bills for all those in desperate need, including low income families and pensioners.
“Changes to eligibility to WFP will create some uncertainty. We will need to see better support for people to understand how this change impacts them, and how they can continue accessing the help they need.”
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, indicated that means-testing the WFP could leave many pensioners without the support they need to stay warm.
She said: “We strongly oppose the means-testing of WFP because our initial estimate is that as many as two million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will be in trouble as a result – yet at the other end of the spectrum well-off older people will scarcely notice the difference – a social injustice.
“A big reason for this disastrous outcome is that more than one in three pensioners entitled to Pension Credit, the qualifying benefit for WFP under this proposal, don’t receive it, a proportion that’s been roughly constant for many years.
“More than 800,000 older people living on very low incomes – under £218.25 a week for single pensioners and under £332.95 for couples – who are already missing out of the Pension Credit they are entitled to get to boost their incomes, will now lose the WFP that helps them to pay their fuel bills.
“In addition, there are also about a million pensioners whose weekly incomes are less than £50 above the poverty line, who will also be hit hard by the loss of the payment.
“Older people in this group often tell us they really struggle financially; the proposed change will make it even harder for them to afford to stay warm when it gets chilly.
“Finally, there is a third group who will find it extremely difficult to heat their homes adequately this winter as a result of the proposed change: older people whose incomes are a little higher though still limited, but who live in energy inefficient homes and/or who are seriously unwell and need to keep the thermostat turned up high in order to protect their health.”
