Elderly to get extra help claiming Pension Credit in wake of winter fuel allowance cut

Town hall bosses in Trafford are to step up action to support pensioners who wish to claim Pension Credit following the controversial scrapping of the winter fuel allowance. At a full council meeting last night (October 16), councillors agreed to fund more staff hours and a specialist worker to identify people who receive Housing Benefit but do not claim Pension Credit, targeting help on a ‘one-to-one’ basis.

Under measures introduced by chancellor Rachel Reeves only people claiming Pension Credit are eligible for the £300 winter fuel payment, which eliminates about 10m people across the UK from entitlement. But many people who are eligible for Pension Credit are not claiming it, with the application form running to 23 pages and nearly 250 questions.

The council has also requested that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provide better data on eligible households. Its resolution read: “We will continue to support and further fund more staff hours in our exchequer services team and a specialist worker to identify those who receive Housing Benefit but not claiming Pension Credit, so we can target our efforts on a one-to-one basis.”

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The Conservative opposition group leader Coun Nathan Evans said that there were 31,146 pensioners, of which 10,000 were over the age of 80 in Trafford. “They are going to suffer because of Labour’s unfathomable need to rob them of their winter fuel allowance,” he said. “A move that is going to kill about 4,000 people across the UK.

“Labour’s own reports say this is the biggest attack on pensioners in a generation. It’s so odd for a Conservative group leader arguing for a measure introduced by [then-Labour chancellor] Gordon Brown in 1997.” But Coun Will Jones argued the Labour has a ‘strong track record’ of supporting people out of poverty. “I find it very interesting that the Tories are now the champions of pensions on this issue,” he said.

“No pensioner needs to go cold or to switch of their heating or their electricity. They should keep them on. They should speak to their energy suppliers who are not going to turn them away.” He said the council was committed to making it easier to claim Pension Credit with support for pensioners in making applications.