Tom Selby, the director of public policy at AJ Bell, warned the Labour Party government faces a dilemma over the new eligibility for the £300 sums, and explained what action could be taken to generate funding.
One group of state pensioners set to be denied Winter Fuel Payment after reinstatement
Richer state pensioners are at risk of missing out on the £300 Winter Fuel Payment if the Labour Party government and HMRC opt to claw back the sums and allowance through self-assessment tax returns.
Tom Selby, the director of public policy at AJ Bell, warned the Labour Party government faces a dilemma over the new eligibility for the £300 sums, and explained what action could be taken to generate funding.
Mr Selby said: “After months of political pressure, the Government finally accepted it needed to look again at the decision to limit the Winter Fuel Payment to Pension Credit recipients. But it now faces a dilemma in determining exactly who should be eligible.”
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Mr Selby explained Pension Credit applications and claims are up 51 per cent in a year since Rachel Reeves’ announcement. One option being considered is awarding the payment to all state pension recipients, then clawing money back from higher-income households through tax returns.
“This might look something like the process for clawing back child benefit for working households, although that has caused mass confusion among taxpayers bamboozled by the complexity of the rules,” Mr Selby added.
Mr Selby warned: “It’s no surprise Torsten Bell has ruled out a complete U-turn to revert back to paying the Winter Fuel Payment to every pensioner, as that would cost this financially hampered government too much money and loss of face.”
At a speech in Rochdale, Reeves told reporters: “We have listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means test, and so we will be making changes to that; they will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter.
“We’ll announce the detail of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can. But people should be in no doubt that the means test will increase and more people will get a winter fuel payment this winter.”
Pensions Minister Torsten Bell said: “Is there any prospect of a universal winter fuel payment? The answer is no. The principle I think most people, 95% of people agree, that it’s not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we’re not going to be continuing with that. But we will be looking at making more pensioners eligible.”