Martin Lewis has spoken out about the ‘two problems’ surrounding the Winter Fuel Payment amidst Sir Kier Starmer’s u-turn and pledge to make it available to more pensioners. Chancellor

Rachel Reeves cut the £2-£300 benefit for more than 10 million pensioners last year, sparking outrage. It was only available to people who get Pensions Credit - meaning they have income of

less than £11,800 a year. Today Sir Keir Starmer signalled a partial U-turn over the Government’s decision to strip winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners. The Prime Minister said

that “as the economy improves” he wanted to look at widening eligibility for the payments worth up to £300. But officials were unable to say how many more pensioners would be eligible or if

time for the budget. “As I’ve said since day one, there are two main problems with the way the means testing of WFP was done “1. The threshold is too low. Most need earn under £11,800/yr to

get it. That’s an extremely low income when typical energy bills are £1,800/yr “2. Using Pension Credit, a benefit that has been known to be critically underclaimed for years, as the

mechanism to prove eligibility is flawed. It leads to, on govts own figures, 700,000 of the poorest and most vulnerable pensioners, people who have total income below £11,800/yr missing out.

“The issue that complicates WFP means testing is it’s a household not individual payment. I have suggested to the Chancellor in the past that an imperfect but speedily workable solution

would be to give WFP to all pensioners who are on pension credit or in homes that are council tax bands A to C. “Hopefully they now have time to fix this frankly unpopular mess, that came

from a rush job, and come up with something that works effectively for more people for the coming winter.” The decision to means-test the previously universal payment was one of the first

announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves after Labour’s landslide election victory last year and has been widely blamed for the party’s collapse in support. It was an issue which Labour

campaigners were challenged about on the doorsteps during May’s elections which saw the party lose councillors and the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary by-election. The Government insisted

the policy was necessary to help stabilise the public finances, allowing the improvements in the economic picture which Sir Keir said could result in the partial reversal of the measure. He

said he understood the financial pressures on pensioners as he made the announcement at Prime Minister’s Questions. “I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the

cost-of-living crisis, including pensioners,” Sir Keir told the Commons. “As the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements in their days as their lives go

forward. That is why we want to ensure that, as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.” He said the Government will “only make decisions we can afford” and

will therefore look at this as part of a “fiscal event” – indicating a change will not be announced before the Chancellor’s autumn budget. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch challenged

Sir Keir in the Commons, calling him “desperate” and asking how the public could trust him again. She later said it was a “joke” for Sir Keir to say he was reacting to an improving economy

after figures showed inflation in April rocketed to its highest level in more than a year. She said she would like to see pensioners on £11,000 to £15,000 a year getting winter fuel payments

and that it will be “too late” if Sir Keir waits until the autumn budget to set out the details. “If he’s waiting until the budget it means that people are going to lose their winter fuel

payment for another year,” she said. The Conservatives would not support tax rises to fund extending winter fuel payments, she added.