Winter Fuel Payment disaster as 50,000 extra pensioners to fall into poverty after benefit cut,  Labour admits

The new Labour Government has admitted that an extra 10,000 pensioners will be plunged into poverty following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to effectively cut the Winter Fuel Payment for millions.

In a letter to the Work and Pensions Committee, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister Liz Kendall revealed tens of thousands of older Britons will fall into relative poverty due to the up to £300 in energy bill support being means-tested.

Kendall shared: “The latest modelling shows that compared to the numbers that would have been in poverty without this policy, it is estimated that in each year in question there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2027/28, instead.

“The modelling also shows that an additional 100,000 pensioners are estimated to be in relative poverty after housing costs in 2026/27, 2028/29 and 2029/30.

“For all other measures of poverty it is estimated that there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in poverty each year from 2024/25 to 2029/30.”

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY…MORE TO FOLLOW