Devastating winter fuel payment cut means almost 59,000 Highland pensioners will lose out as just 6772 now qualify
More than 20,000 people in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross over the age of 66 will be among nearly 60,000 across the Highlands to lose out on the winter fuel payment this year.
Numbers from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) reveal the scale of the problem for many – in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 20,320 pensioners will lose the winter fuel payment, leaving just 2616 on pension credit who will now qualify.
In the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat of 21,123 pensioners, just 2122 now qualify, so19,001 lose out. And in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey 19,496 people will lose the benefit and just 2034 will get it.
Across the region, that is a drop of 88 per cent who are entitled to the benefit, a cut which far north MP Jamie Stone has described as “deeply unfair”.
At the end of July, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced only those on pension credit would receive the payment. The Scottish Government followed suit saying it had no other choice amid an estimated loss of £160 million.
Politicians from across the political divide have been almost unanimous in warning that the loss of the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment in the north will be felt more deeply because fuel poverty rates are already higher than the rest of the UK.
That is caused by the generally colder, wetter and windier weather in the Highlands – which is supported by Met Office research.
And the cost of living is still being felt by many who pay a premium for basic services like fuelling their cars – or heating their homes.
One report to the Scottish Affairs Committee by Dr Tim Allison, director of public health at NHS Highland, and Dr Hugo van Woerden, visiting professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands, provided evidence for the extra costs.
One of the main findings is that “to achieve a reasonable living standard in remote rural” area it typically costs 10-40 per cent more than elsewhere in the UK.
It added that fuel poverty in these areas are around 43 per cent of households while the Highland has the “fourth highest bill for electricity and gas” in Scotland.
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone, speaking from the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, said: “Immediately following the new government announcing the winter fuel payment cut, a striking number of people approached me all over my constituency.
“People are deeply concerned that some of the least well off should lose this vital support. My office has been supporting pensioners who are just on the cusp of the pension credit threshold and are now losing out on the £300 that they were relying on to heat their homes over winter.
“The way this cut has been proposed is deeply unfair and the government can fix this by raising the threshold for pension credit entitlement, to remove the cliff edge.
“In addition, I recently spoke in parliament and pointed out that many pensioners in my constituency are already missing out on the pension credit they are due because of the lack of information and advice owing to poor connectivity, and in some cases, the sheer remoteness of where they live.
“James Murray, the answering minister, said: ‘the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is looking at that as a matter of great priority, to ensure that people get the help that they deserve”. I intend to hold the government to this.”
Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said: “Thousands of pensioners across the Highlands and Islands, where fuel poverty is already higher, will lose out because of Labour’s decision to cut funding for these payments.
“This is a cruel decision that will hurt thousands of elderly people across Scotland, especially in those areas where the cost of heating homes is already disproportionately high.
“However, responsibility for winter fuel payments has recently been devolved to the Scottish Government and so the SNP could still have delivered this support to vulnerable pensioners this winter if they had wanted to.
“Instead, SNP ministers have chosen to follow Labour’s lead and turn their backs on those struggling to heat their homes. Both Labour and the SNP have failed to show the leadership needed to protect those most at risk.”
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP, Maree Todd, responded by urging constituents to check their eligibility for pension credits that would allow them to access the payment.
She said: “My constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross already faces some of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country.
“The Labour UK government’s shameful decision to reduce support will only exacerbate fuel poverty rates and push vulnerable households in my constituency and across the Highlands further into hardship during the harsh winter months.
“I am strongly encouraging pensioners to check if they are eligible for pension credit to ensure that if they are they will still receive the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment that they are entitled to.”
