Row over ‘cruel’ winter fuel allowance cut rumbles on in Sheffield

During the “members’ questions” period at a full council meeting this week (February 5), Cllr Sophie Thornton asked the council “how much did the winter fuel letters to Sheffield residents’ cost to produce and send out” and “how much officer time and therefore money was spent on preparing and dealing with the changes to winter fuel payments?”

She was told, in writing, by the leader of the council, Cllr Tom Hunt, that the council ran a campaign to increase the number of people signed up for Pension Credits and to promote overall uptake of unclaimed benefits over the winter period.

The campaign reached more than 7,000 low-income households through a letter and even more people through other communications channels.

Cllr Hunt wrote: “The total cost of the letters to Sheffield residents was £10,275.

“Officers estimate that the staff costs of producing the letter and the campaign work above was £1,300.”

In a follow-up question at the meeting, Cllr Thornton told Cllr Hunt that more than 70,000 people in Sheffield have been affected by the government’s decision to cut the winter fuel allowance which, according to a projection, could push over 50,000 pensioners into poverty.

She asked Cllr Hunt whether he would condemn “the cruel cuts”.

In response, the leader of the council said the above-mentioned campaign to encourage those who may be eligible for extra funds has been a success.

He highlighted that there was someone who – thanks to the campaign – was able to successfully claim £439.14 per month with £5,252 extra income for the year.

When talking about the cuts, Cllr Hunt said the people who “ought to be apologising for the mess they left this country in are Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak”.

As reported before, the winter fuel payment for pensioners was introduced by Tony Blair’s government “to help them stay warm during colder months and this year will see those eligible get between £100 and £300”.

When announcing the cuts, data showed although 87,880 pensioners in Sheffield received winter fuel payments in the 2022/23 financial year, a total of 74,951 (85 per cent) were expected to lose this type of benefit.

The government said the change was needed to tackle the “black hole” in the public finances.