The Scottish government has confirmed that every pensioner in Scotland will receive a winter fuel payment next year, according to Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville. Those in receipt of qualifying benefits like Pension Credit will get £200 or £300 depending on their age, while all other pensioners will receive £100. The funds will be paid through a new Holyrood benefit, which will not be ready until late 2025. Somerville said the change to UK eligibility rules left the Scottish government with a £150m shortfall, which forced it to push its plans back 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. An estimated 900k pensioners in Scotland are losing out on a fuel payment this winter. Scottish Conservative social security spokeswoman Liz Smith accused ministers of “hoodwinking” pensioners by pretending that a full winter fuel payment was being introduced when some will receive a reduced £100 payment.
Somerville told MSPs that by next winter those Scots would be entitled to the newly-devolved pension age winter heating payment, providing much-needed support not available anywhere else in the UK. The Scottish government’s action has been viewed by some as an attempt to outmanoeuvre Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s vow to undo some cuts imposed by Westminster.
Age Scotland chief executive Katherine Crawford welcomed 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”, while Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser accused the SNP of failing to provide the same level of assistance to pensioners as the UK government.
According to new UK government figures, there has been a spike in claims since Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed her plans to means test the winter fuel payment. In the 16 weeks since late July, about 150k Pension Credit applications have been made across the UK – an increase of almost 150%. However, the number of approvals has risen by just 17% over the same period, while rejections have almost doubled from 27.1k to 53.1k. This means that 81k more pensioners have received the extra cash since the summer out of a possible 880k people who the government believes are eligible for the money
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