Winter fuel cut could put 100,000 in poverty

Cuts to the winter fuel allowance could force 100,000 pensioners into relative poverty, government analysis has shown, as ministers come under mounting pressure over a number of measures in last month's budget.

- Kiran Stacey Patrick Butler

Internal government modelling shows that the decision to remove the benefit from millions of pensioners will result in roughly 50,000 more people being in relative poverty next year, and another 50,000 by the end of the decade.

The figures, which are rounded to the nearest 50,000, take into account the impact of housing costs, but not the impact of thousands more people claiming pension credit since a government campaign this year.

The analysis was published in a letter from Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, yesterday, just as temperatures plunged and parts of the country saw the first snowfall of the year. The letter also coincided with a major protest by farmers in Westminster, as thousands of people turned up to demonstrate against a rise in inheritance tax for agricultural properties.

Kendall said in her letter to Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chair of the work and pensions select committee: "Means-testing winter fuel payments was not a decision this government wanted or expected to take. However, we were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22bn black hole we inherited."