8 hours Ago By David Williamson
Celebrated broadcaster Gloria Hunniford has condemned Labour’s axing of universal winter fuel payments for pensioners, warning of the extreme hardship some older people now face. The 84-year-old described the Government’s treatment of retirees as “shocking” and warned of pensioners staying in bed as they struggle to keep warm. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision has resulted in around 10million pensioners losing the payment of up to £300 in a bid to save £1.
4billion. Ms Hunniford said: “I think it’s shocking what they’ve done to pensioners in the cold and damp weather we’ve had, which is awful. I need a mortgage to pay my gas bill because I just feel I’m too old to be cold, but I feel genuinely so sorry because I don’t need the fuel allowance and there are many around me don’t need it, but there are many people who do.
“I felt it was a pretty rough decision to make right at the beginning of the Labour party’s [time in power].” Warning of the consequences for hard-up pensioners, she said: “At work, I sometimes hear of people who go out to day centres all day just because they can keep warm there, or people who stay in bed more than they would because they can keep warm. “It’s just terrible the way they have to live and I can’t help but feel there could have been other ways to raise that money.
That was a particularly bad decision.” Ms Hunniford is also an ambassador for the Royal Osteoporosis Society and supports its Better Bones campaign with the Sunday Express for the full roll-out across the nation of routine testing for the disease. Her concerns about the winter fuel payments were echoed by Morgan Vine of Independent Age.
He said: “Our helpline receive calls every day from older people living on a low income who missed out on the winter fuel payment this year. Some are just above the threshold to qualify for pension credit, others would qualify but missed the deadline this year. “The people we speak to in this situation tell us they now feel forced to seriously restrict their heating, and some are not turning it on at all.
This situation is detrimental to people’s physical and mental health.” Pressing for change, he said: “Older people on a low income cannot face another winter of living in a cold, damp home. We’re calling on the UK Government to urgently review the eligibility for the winter fuel payment , and widen it from only those receiving pension credit.
” Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said the charity’s research found “more than one million people aged 66 and over have been skipping meals to save money”. She said: “There are still around three quarters of a million pensioners whose incomes are so low that they are entitled to pension credit but not getting it, and more than a million more who are under huge financial pressure but who sit just above the eligibility line.”.
