Latest figures reveal a significant number of pensioners are not claiming a benefit that would allow them to keep their winter fuel allowance this year. The annual heating bill support payment is now restricted to those eligible for pension credit.
Latest figures suggest that there is a high number of pensioners not claiming a benefit that will allow them to keep their winter fuel allowance this year. The annual heating bill support payment – worth £200 to anyone aged over 66 and £300 for the over-80s – is now given only to those elderly people who are also entitled to pension credit .
However, a meeting of Chorley Council heard that a significant swathe of the borough’s elderly residents who are eligible for pension credit have never applied for it – and so will now lose out twice over, when their winter fuel payment does not arrive this year. Labour council leader Alistair Bradley said the authority would write to all those it thinks might not be claiming what they are due, in an attempt to help those people “who it would appear are at the greatest risk”.
He also drew a distinction between those who might be unable to heat their homes as a result of the cut and the broader need for careful budgeting. “What may have to do…is tighten their belt. We’ve all seen, previously, many people having to tighten their belts because of the policies of the previous Conservative government,” Cllr Bradley said.
Pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Pension Credit Government Policy Chorley Council
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