Rachel Reeves Confirms More Pensioners Will Get Their Winter Fuel Payments This Year

Rachel Reeves has confirmed the government will increase the number of pensioners who are eligible for winter fuel payments in time for this winter.

It’s the first time Labour has offered a rough time frame for when it will reinstate the lump sum payment to British pensioners.

The government axed the allowance of up to £300 from 10 million elderly people in last year’s Budget, by turning the universal policy into a means-tested one.

It was part of the government’s plan to fill the alleged £22bn black hole the Tories had supposedly left behind in the public finances.

But this policy change sparked intense outrage both within and outside of Labour and added to the party’s decline in the opinion polls.

The success of Reform UK – who have promised to bring back the universal payment for every pensioner – in the local elections added pressure to the government to reverse the policy.

Despite initially rejecting reports which suggested Labour was of considering a U-turn, prime minister Keir Starmer then announced changes to the winter fuel payment last month.

Today, the chancellor told reporters they would make sure more pensioners were eligible by the upcoming winter, now the public finances are “on a firmer footing”.

Reeves said: “We have listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means test, and so we will be making changes to that, they will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter.

“We’ll announce the detail of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.

“But people should be in no doubt that the means test will increase and more people will get a winter fuel payment this winter.”

It remains unclear how many pensioners will become eligible for the winter fuel payment or when exactly the changes will kick in.