Andrew Harrop‚ Head of Policy for Age Concern and Help the Aged‚ said:

“Universal payments ensure they get to all older people‚ including the very poorest and most vulnerable‚ who often miss out on means-tested financial support due to the complexity of claiming. 

“The winter fuel payment (WFP) and other benefits are hardly ‘perks’ and to suggest so is irresponsible in the extreme.

“More than 2.5 million older people live in fuel poverty‚ and the winter fuel payment (WFP) provides much needed financial help to those pensioners who struggle to heat their homes due to high energy costs‚ poorly insulated housing and a low state pension. Means testing the WFP would mean many of these people would not benefit from it.

“While WFPs don’t provide a long-term solution to fuel poverty‚ in 2006 the payments were responsible for taking around 200‚000 households out of fuel poverty in the UK. 

“In an ideal world‚ the WPF wouldn’t be necessary because people would have a sufficient pension to pay their heating bills‚ but the reality is more than 2 million pensioners live in fuel poverty and the WFP is still an effective way of getting additional help these people.”