Winter fuel payment: Nearly 100,000 Sheffield pensioners claimed government allowance last year

The majority of pensioners in the city - an estimated 75,000 - will lose the annual payment under plans to means test the allowance so only those on pension credit can claim.

Internal DWP analysis suggests that across the UK roughly nine in 10 pensioners aged between 66 and 79, and eight in 10 pensioners aged 80 and over, will lose out. The official data showed 97,374 Sheffield pensioners claimed the payment in the winter of 2023/24.

The changes to the winter fuel payment come as part of efforts by the government to rectify a £22 billion “black hole” left by the former Conservative administration.

Labour have faced uproar from within their own party over the decision, with the government embarassingly losing a non-binding vote on the final day of the party conference in Liverpool.

The conference motion, which demanded the party abandon the planned changes, was brought by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, who said: “People simply do not understand, I do not understand, how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched.”

She added the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, should change course, adding: “Leadership is also about acknowledging when you’ve made a mis-step.”

The winter fuel payment is a state benefit for pensioners designed to help with heating bills. It was introduced in 1997 and made available to everyone, regardless of income.

Reeves announced following the general election that the payment will no longer be universal (available to all) and will be ‘means tested’ so only those claiming pension credit can get the allowance.

In September, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) explained all party leaders in the council, including Labour’s Councillor Tom Hunt, would sign a letter to the chancellor, calling on her to suspend and review in policy.

Furthermore, the energy regulator Ofgem hiked energy prices up 10 per cent on October 1 to £1,717 per year. It prompted calls from local members of Unite for the sector to be taken into public ownership - claiming privatisation had “failed”.

Wendy, a Sheffield-based community member of Unite, said of the changes to the fuel payment: “[It’s] terrible. Awful. It’s disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful.

“A lot of people live from hand to mouth and I don’t think the government, with their £90,000-a-year income, they don’t know what’s going on in the world.

“I think it’s mean. I think it’s a really mean thing they’ve done... I think it’s very badly thought out.”