Age UK is running a petition against the Labour Government’s new proposal to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners.
The petition now has over 100,000 signatures, which means it should be debated in Parliament.
The Labour Government should be ashamed to introduce this cut, which helps pensioners with the cost of fuel, even if people on pension credit will still be protected. There are many pensioners on similar levels of income who only just miss out on pension credit. There are also many who would qualify if they knew how to apply. The DWP estimates that £1.7 billion of pension credit is going unclaimed every year by people who are entitled to it.
At the same time, we desperately need the government to act urgently on home insulation schemes. This is the best way of keeping everyone safe, warm and out of poverty. Instead of cutting the Winter Fuel Allowance, it would have made more sense to give pensioners the option to use it to help finance the installation of insulation measures and solar panels to reduce their energy bills. That sort of initiative would be the actions of an imaginative and progressive government, not one that is just continuing austerity.
Cllr Douglas Johnson
Leader of the Green Group
Sheffield City Council
