Saqib has called on the government to U-turn on their decision to end winter fuel payments for nearly 10 million pensioners. The new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, recently announced that only pensioners in receipt of pension credits or means-tested benefits will be eligible for winter fuel payments. This will decrease the number of pensioners receiving this payment from 11.4 million to 1.5 million. With fuel costs set to rise this winter the loss of the payments will leave many pensioners in a difficult financial position.
In an attempt to convince the government to roll back this decision, Saqib has joined numerous organisations and individuals by signing the Age UK petition calling for the winter fuel payments to be reinstated. The petition has over 400,000 signatures with numbers increasing day by day. The End Poverty Coalition made up of over 50 organisations, has also written to the Chancellor on this matter to argue that this change will see pensioners not on means-tested benefits face a 15% increase in their energy bills.
Commenting on the petition, Saqib said:
“The Labour government’s decision to take winter fuel payments away from nearly 10 million pensioners is cruel and unjust and I will continue to speak out against it. For many pensioners, their only source of income is the state pension and without the much needed help of the winter fuel payments they may be unable to effectively heat their homes. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen.”
“I have added my name to Age UK’s petition, and I would urge everyone to do the same to send a clear message to the government that targeting our pensioners is not something we will stand for.”
