The funds – which are limited to one payment per household – will be paid through a new Scottish Parliament benefit, which will not be ready until late 2025…reports Asian Lite News
Every pensioner household in Scotland will receive a winter fuel payment next year, the Scottish government has announced. Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said those in receipt of qualifying benefits like Pension Credit would get £200 or £300 depending on their age, while all others would get £100.
The funds – which are limited to one payment per household – will be paid through a new Scottish Parliament benefit, which will not be ready until late 2025. The UK government scrapped universal entitlement to winter fuel payments earlier this year, with only those on Pension Credit or other benefits eligible.
The Scottish government was due to take over responsibility for winter fuel payments in September – but the introduction of a new universal benefit was delayed after the UK government decision. Somerville said the change to UK eligibility rules left it with a £150m shortfall, and it had no choice but to push its plans back until late 2025.
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The change means an estimated 900,000 pensioners in Scotland are missing out on a fuel payment this winter.
In a statement at Holyrood, Somerville told MSPs that next winter Scots would be entitled to the newly-devolved Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. She said: “This universal benefit – providing much-needed support not available anywhere else in the UK – will deliver support for all pensioner households as we had always intended to do before the UK government decision to means-test winter fuel payments cut the funding available to support our new benefit in Scotland this winter by £147m. “We will not abandon older people this winter or any winter. We will do our best to make sure no-one has to make a decision between heating and eating, and we will continue to protect pensioners.”
The social justice secretary also announced a £41m support package, with £20m in welfare funding for councils this financial year and £20m for the Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme.
There will be a further £1m for social landlords and the third sector for homelessness prevention work. Somerville’s statement has been viewed by some as an attempt to outmanoeuvre Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who had vowed to undo some of the cuts from Westminster.
Labour MSPs had called on the Scottish government to use extra UK funding from the Chancellor’s Autumn statement to provide universal coverage to pensioners this year. Labour MSP Paul O’Kane said the £41m package was equal to a Holyrood cash boost coming via an increase in Treasury spending on the UK Household Support Fund.
He also pointed to an increase of £3.4bn in next year’s Scottish Budget. Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative social security spokeswoman Liz Smith accused ministers of “hoodwinking” pensioners by pretending that a full winter fuel payment was being introduced. She highlighted than many would receive a reduced £100 payment.
The UK government said the winter fuel payment cut was due to a “black hole” in public finances left by the previous Conservative government. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an increase in the state pension – which is set to rise by £460 per year in April – would “outstrip” losses for those who would not receive the winter fuel payment.
However, the state pension increase will be spread over the year from next April, whereas the winter fuel payment is usually paid in November or December. At a lunch club for pensioners in Crieff, Perthshire, run by the Royal Voluntary Service, several attendees said times had been made harder by the UK government’s move to restrict payments.
“It’s a terrible decision to have to make, whether you heat the house or whether you buy food, said Fay Murphy. “It is pretty shocking and it is getting worse in some areas in Scotland,” she added.
Murphy said the action by the Scottish government was welcome, although she said she was concerned about how that would be funded. But Geoff Mayne, 84, said he believed the UK decision to restrict the benefit in the first place was “perfectly fair.” “You were giving money to people who don’t really need it,” he said.
“I can’t help but feel it was the right decision to make sure it went to the people who needed it, but not to everybody. That includes me.”
At Inchgarth Community Centre in Aberdeen Harry Buck, 71, said it was “a bit of a concern” that he would get no fuel payment this winter. “I don’t receive any credits at all so I’ll not receive any additional help from the government.
“I’m probably lucky enough that I can afford my bills just now, so it will still be interesting to see how it goes this year without that wee bit of extra help.” Age Scotland chief executive Katherine Crawford said she was delighted with the announcement following the UK government’s “disastrous” benefits cut.
She said the £41m funding package, to be distributed through local authorities this year, was “positive”, with four in 10 Scottish pensioners in fuel poverty.
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