Ann O'Reilly, chief executive of Age NI, was hitting out after the government refused to deny reports that it was planning to slash the benefits.

"There was a 60 per cent increase in deaths of older people in Northern Ireland in the winter of 2008/09," Ms O'Reilly said. "These 873 excess deaths were not due to colder winter, but rises in energy prices and the cost of living.

"Our research has found that 70 per cent of older people say that staying warm in winter is their main worry.

"Hard choices have to be made by government, but they have to be the right hard choices. This is a high risk strategy that is being discussed."

It was reported yesterday that the qualifying age for winter fuel payments could be raised from 60 to 66 in an attempt to dramatically cut the UK's welfare bill.

There is also speculation that the payment – worth £250 or £400 for the over-80s last winter – could be cut by £50 for new recipients and £100 for the oldest.

Winter fuel payments, introduced in the winter of 1997, cost around £2.7 billion a year.

David Cameron pledged to keep the winter fuel allowance during the general election leaders' debates, but the Liberal Democrats campaigned on a platform of reforming the payment by raising the age-related threshold to 65 to extend them for severely disabled people.

The coalition agreement pledges to "protect key benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment", but does not rule out reform.
However, as the coalition marked 100 days in power yesterday, Nick Clegg – the deputy prime minister – said no final decision on welfare cuts had been taken.

Social development minister Alex Attwood said yesterday that he was "deeply concerned" about the speculative plans.

"They will create real hardship for thousands of elderly people and hard working families," he said. "This against a backdrop of a hefty hike in food prices in recent weeks and a universal increase in prices when the higher rates of VAT are introduced.

"Things could become a lot worse for people in Northern Ireland. That simply isn't fair, especially given the unique position Northern Ireland finds itself in emerging from 40 years of conflict," he said.
"People in need here should not be victims of London policies. We need a strong voice to campaign against these proposals."

Mr Attwood said he would meet with Work and Pensions Minister Iain Duncan Smith next month to raise his concerns and to "seek a better result for Northern Ireland".