Winter fuel payments to be restored for some by 'this winter', Reeves confirms
The chancellor has confirmed winter fuel payments will be restored for some pensioners from this winter, after the government u-turned on a cut to the allowance.
Reeves said the changes to the payment "will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we will announce the detail of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.
'But people should be in no doubt that the means test will increase and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter.'
Reeves made the surprise announcement during a speech on investment for transport projects outside of London, after weeks of speculation over whether more people would be eligible for the payments this winter.
Sir Keir Starmer announced the major u-turn last month, saying the the government wants to "to ensure more pensioners are eligible" for the payments.
The PM said he was able to make the change because the economy had improved, but he had faced growing pressure from within the Labour ranks to change course after the poor local election results for the party.
Despite Reeves confirming more people will get the allowance this winter, the pensions minister also revealed there's no prospect of returning to universal winter fuel payments in the changes.
Speaking to the Work and Pensions Committee, Torsten Bell said: 'Directly on your question of is there any prospect of a universal winter fuel payment, the answer is no, the principle I think most people, 95% of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.
'But we will be looking at making more pensioners eligible.'
What remains unclear is exactly how many more people will receive the payments. Starmer refused to answer when pressed by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on how many people will get the winter fuel payment back during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
"Three weeks ago the winter fuel policy was set in stone, two weeks ago the prime minister u-turned, today the chancellor is rushing her plans because she just realised when winter is," Badenoch said.
"So on behalf of the pensioners who want to know, can the prime minister be clear with us here and now how many of the ten million people who lost their winter fuel payments will get it back?" she asked.
Starmer said the government has "stabilised the economy", and that's why they will "look again... at the eligibility for winter fuel, and of course we'll set out how we pay for it."
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