Chancellor Rachel Reeves discussed her decision to cease winter fuel payments for pensioners who are not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits in an interview with BBC Breakfast.
Ms Reeves stated, “The decisions I made on winter fuel payments yesterday are not decisions I wanted to make. They were not decisions that I expected to make. But when confronted with a 22 billion pound black hole, I had to act.”
Rachel Reeves highlighted that winter fuel payments would continue for pensioners receiving pension credits, with single pensioners earning just below £12,000 and pensioner couples earning just under £18,000 still eligible.
The Chancellor continued: “It’s important to preserve those payments for the pensioners who need it most, and in addition to that I’ll be working with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that we increase the take up of pension credit so that everybody that’s entitled to it and winter fuel payment gets that support.
“It was a difficult decision yesterday, but in the circumstances that I faced, the circumstances I inherited, it was the right decision alongside other difficult decisions that this new government was forced to make yesterday to fix the mess left by the previous government.”
