£6 a week extra state Pension from next April won’t replace £300 lost this November!
Treasury estimates of a 3.5% rise in state pension next April cannot compensate the poorest pensioners for losing £200 or £300 this November.
The Treasury has produced estimates of an expected state pension increase next year which suggest it will increase by around 3.5% in line with average earnings. This triple lock earnings link will add about £6 or £8 a week to the full Basic and New State Pensions. This represents an estimated £300 or £400 a year more by April 2026. But that additional money will be of no help at all this Winter.
Some have suggested this forecast can justify or compensate for the decision to strip the Winter Fuel Payments away without warning in the coming weeks. This is simply not true.
The oldest pensioners are about to have £300 taken away from them without warning, which they were expecting to receive this November 2024. That money could have helped them keep warm through the Winter weather. The poorest and oldest will lose hundreds of pounds now, and promising them a few extra pounds a week next Spring is cold comfort. Sadly some will not survive through the coming months.
The additional money in 2025 will be paid to every pensioner regardless of need, but the Winter Fuel money is being taken away from both those who don’t need it and those who do. The Government said it had to save money and that many pensioners were getting hundreds of pounds they didn’t really need, to justify it’s shock decision, but it has also taken the money from millions of the poorest pensioners too. These are the ones who will be hit by the loss of Winter Fuel Payments and who will not be helped by a few pounds a week coming between April 2025 and 2026.
The Government needs to think again on Winter Fuel Payments before this dangerous hasty decision causes real harm this Winter. There is still a bit of time to reconsider. Withdraw the regulations and look properly at how to tax or restrict the money rather than taking it away.