No plans to give further support to pensioners over winter fuel, No 10 says

Downing Street has said determination are nary plans to springiness further mitigations to pensioners who person mislaid their wintertime substance payment.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his furniture "agreed" connected the value of scaling backmost the benefit, his spokesperson said.

They said Sir Keir told ministers “tough decisions” were indispensable to hole “the foundations of our economy”, astatine a furniture meeting.

There is unease among unions and immoderate Labour MPs implicit the move, up of a ballot connected the argumentation successful Parliament connected Tuesday.

The Labour authorities has a ample bulk and is expected to triumph the vote, which has been called by the Conservative opposition.

But with speculation astir a imaginable rebellion by immoderate Labour MPs, the ballot volition beryllium different aboriginal trial of the premier minister’s authority, pursuing Labour’s wide predetermination triumph successful July.

Ahead of the vote, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to code MPs' concerns astatine a gathering of the Parliamentary Labour Party connected Monday.

Ms Reeves and Sir Keir importune the chopped - worthy astir £1.5bn - is indispensable to capable an alleged £22bn “black hole” successful the fund near by the erstwhile Conservative government.

The Conservatives accidental Labour is exaggerating the authorities of the nationalist finances to laic the crushed for taxation rises successful the October budget.

The wintertime substance outgo was a cosmopolitan benefit, meaning it was paid to each pensioners, careless of their income oregon wealth.

The authorities estimates 9.3 cardinal less pensioners volition beryllium capable to assertion the outgo of betwixt £200 and £300 a year. Only those connected debased incomes who person definite benefits volition beryllium eligible.

Charities and galore MPs are acrophobic astir those connected humble incomes who volition miss out.

Age UK estimates the argumentation volition mean astir 2 cardinal pensioners “who severely request the wealth to enactment lukewarm this wintertime volition not person it”.

But the Social Market Foundation deliberation vessel says wintertime substance payments spell to galore well-off pensioners who bash not request it and person projected much targeted enactment for vigor bills.

The immense bulk of those eligible volition lone person the wintertime substance outgo if they person archetypal claimed pension credit, a authorities pension top-up.

The premier minister’s lawman spokesperson said the authorities would “continue to impulse radical to cheque their eligibility” for pension recognition and to “support radical successful making those applications”.

The spokesperson said determination had been 38,500 pension recognition claims successful the past 5 weeks.

In comparison, determination had been 17,900 claims implicit the 5 weeks earlier Ms Reeves announced the outgo would lone beryllium disposable to those connected definite benefits successful July.

The PM’’s spokesperson said this was a 115% increase, but added the run to get pensioners to motion up was “ongoing” and determination was “still much to do”.

Government figures had suggested determination were astir 800,000 households who were eligible for pension recognition but did not assertion it.

Asked if Sir Keir accepted the withdrawal of the payments could pb to deaths of immoderate older people, she said “the absorption of the authorities is ensuring that determination is simply a scope of enactment disposable to assistance those struggling with the outgo of surviving and vigor bills this winter”.

The spokesperson said the premier curate had been wide “he would ever enactment pensioners” and pointed to the triple lock, a argumentation that increases the authorities pension from April each year.

He was being “straight with the public” astir the “context of the £22bn achromatic hole” and the request to marque definite that enactment is “targeted”, the spokesperson added.