Starmer admits the government did not carry out an impact assessment on cuts to pensioners' winter fuel payouts
13 September 2024, 06:40
Keir Starmer has admitted that the government did not carry out a full impact assessment on the effect on pensioners of the scrapping of the universal winter fuel payout.
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The Prime Minister said the government was not legally required to produce such a report into the impact of the law change, which will mean that about 1.5 million pensioners will get the payouts of up to £300 this winter, down from nearly 11 million.
As part of a wider cost-saving push, only OAPs on pension credit or certain other benefits will receive the payments in England and Wales, cutting spending by £1.3 billion.
Ministers have been pressured by the Tories to publish an impact assessment.
Asked by reporters if an impact assessment would be published, Sir Keir told reporters travelling with him to Washington DC: "There isn't a report on my desk which somehow we're not showing, that I'm not showing, as simple as that."
Read more: What is the winter fuel payment and why has it been axed?
Treasury Minister 'did not want to make decisions' like the winter fuel payment cut
A Downing Street spokeswoman said officials had done some statistical analysis, but not on what impact the change might have on vulnerable pensioners.
"There are clear rules on this that we followed carefully and, for policy changes implemented through secondary legislation, like the change to winter fuel payment eligibility, departments are required to make regulatory impact assessments if the cost of the legislation exceeds £10 million and so an assessment was therefore not required for the change to winter fuel eligibility."
There was a legal duty to consider the "equality implications" of any policy development and "that happened in the usual way to assess the proportion of protected characteristics, such as age and gender who claim winter fuel payments".
And there was also an official statistical publication which set out the estimated number of households in fuel poverty.
Starmer faces claims of ‘hiding’ impact on pensioners of winter fuel payment cut
But the spokeswoman confirmed there had been no work on how many people affected by the change might have health difficulties or might be vulnerable or at risk as a result of the change.
Asked whether an assessment should have been done to work out whether elderly people might die as a result of the change, the spokeswoman said: "The Government will be ensuring that those who are most vulnerable and should be receiving support are receiving it, and that's why there is a huge effort to try and convert people onto pension credit.
"And also, we want people to be applying for the wider support, which is also there for the most vulnerable.
"Our approach is to ensure that those most vulnerable are receiving targeted support, and we've had to take that tough decision to rebalance the books, given the state of the public finances."
