DWP boss Liz Kendall breaks silence over £300 Winter Fuel Payment u-turn
Ms Kendall has spoken out over the speculation there could be an about-face over the cut.
Liz Kendall has refused to rule out a u-turn or reversal over the Winter Fuel Payment or Winter Fuel Allowance. Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) Ms Kendall has spoken out over the speculation there could be an about-face over the cut.
Ms Kendall issued an update on Sunday, two days on from the I paper breaking the news, saying she supports the principle. In an interview with The Observer she said "the policy remains the same".
Ms Kendall said: "The principle that millionaire pensioners shouldn't get the winter fuel allowance is the right one." There are understood to be ongoing discussions with colleagues across the party, making the case that reform is necessary but challenging.
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Ministers are considering whether to give more pensioners the allowance, by increasing the £11,500 income cut threshold over which they no longer get the payment or by reversing it altogether.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We had to take tough but right decisions in the Budget to stabilise the economy after years of damage and decline.
“As a result of what we’ve done, [we have] got record investment into the NHS, which is bringing down waiting lists and delivering three million extra appointments in the first 10 months of a Labour government, with four interest rate cuts and growth figures of 0.7 per cent.
“The decisions we made weren’t easy. But it’s clear they are having the effect of stabilising our economy and allowing our economy to grow, putting more money in the pockets of working people.”
Luke Tryl, executive director of polling organisation More In Common, has described it as Labour’s “original sin” and said it had a major impact on the party’s disastrous performance in this month’s elections.
One pensioner reacted to the news on social media, saying: "As a pensioner I am not against going without fuel allowance. Folks on pension credit do extremely well. Those who keep objecting maybe not pensioners.
"Maybe be raise the limit would help those just over. I had a neighbour who stated she was not going to pay towards a pension as a carer of the elderly I see how better of they are than if you save. Unfortunately for her she had did not realise she had a small pension that took her over not being able to claim pension credit. I paid in to pensions so pay tax which I don't object to.
"Mainly as we have so many benefits like,free prescriptions,bus rides,optical tests,as you get older you need the NHS more ,concessions in so many ways."
A second said: Re-instating wfa for those who don't pay income tax should be a given. Maybe for people on standard rate tax seeing it is expensive to differentiate between people on £15k a year and in need and those on £30 and doing OK.