Move to end universal winter fuel payments for pensioners to be extended to NI
Stormont ministers have written to the PM expressing concerns over means testing the payments.
A move to end the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners is to be extended to Northern Ireland, Stormont’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has confirmed.
Mr Lyons said he “strongly disagreed” with the move by the Labour Government but said there was “no additional resource” which would allow the region to diverge from the UK decision.
Meanwhile, the Stormont Executive has written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer raising concern that the change will have a “negative impact on a significant number of people of pension age in Northern Ireland”.
Labour has said that the policy will stop winter fuel payments for people in England and Wales who are not in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits.
He said: “On 29 July 2024 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments in England and Wales would be restricted to those people receiving Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits only. I strongly disagree with this decision.
“The estimated additional cost to the block grant of maintaining universal entitlement to a winter fuel payment in Northern Ireland for winter 2024/25 is £44.3 million, and this does not include any additional delivery or staffing costs.
“Regrettably, there is no additional resource available in the budget to allow us to diverge from the UK Government decision without significantly cutting other public services.
“I have made clear to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions my total opposition to this decision and outlined the detrimental impact it will have on many people in Northern Ireland.
“I am committed to ensuring that people can access all the support to which they are entitled and would encourage anyone affected by these changes to check their benefit entitlement.”
Meanwhile, all of the Stormont ministers have written collectively to the Prime Minister on the issue. The letter, seen by the PA news agency, states that ministers “convey our collective concern at your Government’s intended changes to the Winter Fuel Payments Scheme.”
It goes on to say that the decision “will have a direct and negative impact on a significant number of people of pension age in Northern Ireland who are already struggling with the consequences of the rise in the cost of living”.
Mr Lyons contended Stormont “had had no choice” in the matter, and that it had been a “really bad decision by the UK Government” with “zero consultation”.
“We consulted with other Executive colleagues and through that urgent procedure process, the First and deputy First Minister have agreed that we will maintain parity and will be doing the same as they are doing in England and Wales,” he said.
“But I am concerned about this … we have really been left in the position of having no decision to make, there was no choice for us and in fact the Government said to us if they didn’t have a decision from us today that then they would be forced to remove Northern Ireland from their IT system altogether and that there would be no payments made to anybody this winter.
“What’s frustrating for me is that we have had no time to consider how then we could best help those who are most in need. This was landed on our plate at the last minute and we’d no time to consult or even find out how we could identify and help those people that really will find this difficult.”
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt indicated that Stormont ministers were “very, very reluctant” around the decision.
“I’m not going to go into the confidentiality of Executive business but I think you can guess for yourself nobody was happy about that, that it was a very, very reluctant decision by each and every member of the Executive to say that we cannot break parity,” he told media at Stormont.
