Ministers looking at ‘very long’ form for winter fuel payments

Pensions minister Emma Reynolds acknowledged the application process was “very long”, as she also faced calls to say whether an alleged pension credit claims backlog will be cleared “before older people start having to make the choice between heating and eating”.

Taking questions in the Commons on Monday, Ms Reynolds told the House: “We are looking at the form.

“Ninety percent of applicants now apply online but we know that the paper form is very long and we’re looking to see what we can do to simplify it.”

David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, had asked: “What steps is (Ms Reynolds) taking to ensure claiming for pension credit is as simple as possible?”

Pensioners face having to fill in a 243-question application to claim pension credit, which will unlock winter fuel payments of up to £300.

The Government shrunk the previously universal winter fuel payments scheme this year, which the Government has said would help plug a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances.

Responding to an earlier question by Conservative MP Rebecca Smith (South West Devon), Ms Reynolds told MPs: “The Government remains absolutely committed to supporting pensioners. We urge pensioners to check their eligibility for pension credit to ensure as many people as possible have access to the support which they are entitled to.”

Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, claimed the Department for Work and Pensions was “delaying releasing any more data” on pension credit applications.

She said: “I’m concerned that the Government knows it will not be able to process these applications on time and that this information is not being put into the public domain.

“So will the minister be able to tell me exactly how many pension credit applications have been submitted since September 16, and if the backlog will be cleared before older people start having to make the choice between heating and eating?”

Ms Reynolds said her department had redeployed 500 additional staff to help process the applications and replied to Ms Olney: “I gently say to her we are not delaying the publication of statistics and there will be a new set of statistics which will be published soon.”

The minister had earlier said “the department does not have a pension credit application target” but noted the Government had received around 74,400 pension credit claims in the eight weeks from the end of July to mid-September.

Conservative shadow work and pensions minister Danny Kruger accused the Government of “avoiding scrutiny” by MPs.

He described the equality assessment which looked at the decision to scale back winter fuel payments as “high level” and added it “was only dragged out of the Government in response to a Freedom of Information request”.

Mr Kruger continued: “The fact is, they are avoiding accountability for this policy. They are avoiding scrutiny by this House.”

He added: “Their own figures predict that fully a third of eligible pensioners, that’s three-quarters of a million of the poorest people in the country, will not get pension credit and won’t get the winter fuel payment.

“That’s what they’re banking on, that is how they are making the savings that they predict from this policy by cutting benefits to some of the poorest people in our country.”

Ms Reynolds had said: “We have published an equality analysis, which (Mr Kruger) can find on the Government’s website and due to the legislation we don’t have to produce an impact assessment, but it is an equality analysis. I urge him to have a look at that.

“And all I would say to him is that the new leader of the Opposition (Kemi Badenoch) argued in 2022 that winter fuel payment should be means tested, so I wondered how he might go ahead and means test winter fuel payments if he had the chance?”

Elsewhere in the session, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham Munira Wilson called on the Government to “do the right thing and scrap the two-child benefit cap, and thus lift 300,000 children out of poverty immediately”.

Social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said a strategy will, when it is published, “be very clear about how we will tackle the scourge of child poverty and (Ms Wilson) absolutely right to highlight the importance of doing that”.

He added: “On this side of the House, we voted against the two-child limit but we won’t promise change until we know how we are going to pay for it. That will be addressed in the work of the task force, with results published in the spring.”