Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changing eligibility requirements for the winter fuel payment on people with disabilities.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners. Everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the Government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households that need it most, that is those receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.
An equality analysis was produced as part of Ministerial decision making in line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty. This was published on 13 September and can be found here. By convention, such analyses are not published alongside secondary legislation. However, in view of the close public interest in this issue Ministers decided, exceptionally, to publish in this case.
For those with long-term illnesses, the “extra costs” disability benefits (namely Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) in England and Wales; and equivalent benefits in Scotland) provide a tax free, non-income-related contribution towards the extra costs people with a long-term health condition can face, such as additional heating costs. They are paid monthly throughout the year. AA can be worth up to £5,600 a year and recipients are free to use their benefit according to their own priorities.
Receipt of disability benefits can provide a passport to additional amounts in means-tested benefits (notably Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) for those on low incomes providing they meet the other eligibility criteria.
Found: Committee Stage: Tuesday 18 March 2025 Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Committee
Feb. 17 2025
Source Page: Copies of HR policy documents including annual leave FOI2025/00955Found: friends’ allowance. 5.
Mentions:
1: Baroness Noakes (Con - Life peer) employment allowance and Amendment 54 would create a £20,000 level of employment allowance for public - Speech Link
2: Lord Altrincham (Con - Excepted Hereditary) By increasing the employment allowance for public authorities to £20,000, we would reduce the financial - Speech Link
3: Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer) to domestic workers and the public sector, and to increase the value of the employment allowance for - Speech Link
4: Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer) Expanding eligibility for, or increasing the value of, the allowance would come with additional costs - Speech Link
Found: Committee Stage: Tuesday 11 March 2025 Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Amendment
Found: Committee Stage: Monday 10 March 2025 Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Amendment
Mentions:
1: Baroness Lawlor (Con - Life peer) I would be very happy with an increased employment allowance. - Speech Link
2: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) would not absorb all the extra costs. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Lawlor (Con - Life peer) It does not come from growing the public sector. - Speech Link
4: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) benefit, in the employment allowance? - Speech Link
5: Lord Scriven (LD - Life peer) is wholly or mainly of a public nature”. - Speech Link
Found: Committee Stage: Friday 7 March 2025 Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Amendment
Mentions:
1: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Lab - Slough) Friend agree that it is the job, indeed the moral duty, of this Government to protect the most vulnerable - Speech Link
2: Diane Abbott (Lab - Hackney North and Stoke Newington) PIP is a benefit intended to help people who have a health condition or disability with the extra costs - Speech Link
3: Warinder Juss (Lab - Wolverhampton West) On top of that, my constituent has to bear the additional costs of buying medication and the loss of - Speech Link
4: John McDonnell (Ind - Hayes and Harlington) Under the Government’s proposals, 150,000 unpaid carers will lose the carer’s allowance. - Speech Link
5: Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) , particularly her housing costs. - Speech Link
Found: Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill REVISED SECOND MARSHALLED LIST OF AMENDMENTS TO