Nearly 150,000 people have called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reverse winter fuel cuts set to hit around 10 million pensioners.
A petition from The Silver Voices, an organisation for UK senior citizens, has been signed by almost 150,000 people and calls on the government to reverse plans to means-test the winter fuel allowance.
The cuts were announced among a number of “urgent decisions” Ms Reeves said were necessary because of the previous Tory government’s “undisclosed” overspending and are expected to save £1.5 billion.
READ MORE: DWP Winter Fuel Payment alert as two groups of pensioners can now make new claim
It means those not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will no longer get the annual payments, worth between £100 and £300.
The petition calls for the government to restore “a universal winter fuel payment for all older people on modest incomes, payable automatically without the need to claim”.
In 2022-23, just over 11.1 million pensioners were eligible for a winter fuel payment in England and Wales. But as of last November, only 1.2m were eligible for pension credits.
This means nearly 10 million will miss out in England and Wales. The cuts are most likely to affect pensioners in affluent areas, with more than nine in 10 pensioners missing out on fuel payments this year in some parts of the country.
In Hart in Hampshire, 95.2% of pensioners will no longer be eligible for the payments, which means only about one in 20 will receive it.
But in local authority areas that are frequently ranked as having the highest levels of deprivation in the country, such as Blackpool and Middlesbrough, more than 80% of pensioners will lose the payments.
The change does not apply In Scotland, where responsibility for the payment is set to be transferred to the Scottish Government this winter and replaced with the pension-age winter heating payment.
You can see how many pensioners are likely to be eligible for payment next winter – and how many will miss out – with this interactive map.
The Silver Voices petition also asks the Chancellor to resist calls to means test other universal benefits, such as the bus pass and free prescriptions in England; and to rule out scrapping single-person discounts on council tax.
Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group, went to Downing Street on Monday morning to urge the Chancellor to protect older people in Wednesday’s Budget.
Mr Reed, who was joined at Downing Street by other pensioners affected by the changes, and a cross-party group of MPs, successfully lobbied the previous government to retain the pensions Triple Lock.
But he described the cuts already announced and others that could be made in Wednesday’s budget as “an even greater threat to the welfare and living standards of older people”.
He said: “The winter fuel payment has already been scrapped for 10 million pensioners and the Government has not ruled out means-testing the other universal benefits, the bus pass and free prescriptions in England. Also there is speculation that the single-person discount on council tax will be scrapped, which would add further harsh burdens to many widows and widowers.
“Our new petition calls for the Government to change track and protect and improve pensions and benefits; rather than targeting pensioners again in the October Budget.”
The top 10 areas where pensioners are most likely to lose their winter fuel payments – area percentage of pensioners losing winter fuel payment
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Hart 95.2%
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Wokingham 95.0%
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Rutland 94.6%
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Vale of White Horse 94.5%
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Mole Valley 94.5%
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South Oxfordshire 94.4%
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Ribble Valley 94.3%
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East Hampshire 94.3%
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Waverley 94.2%
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Fareham 94.2%
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