- The winter fuel payment will be ready for winter 2025 – 2026
- Pensioners will receive between £100 – £300 depending on eligibility
- Restricting the benefit will save the Treasury £1.4bn this financial year
All pensioners in Scotland will receive the winter fuel payment in 2025, social justice secretary for the Scottish Parliament, Shirley-Anne Somerville, has announced.
An additional £20m for both the Scottish Welfare Fund and Warmer Homes Scotland will also be awarded this fiscal year, as well as £1 million in grant funding to registered social landlords to fund work that will help prevent homelessness.
Earlier this year, the UK and Scottish governments announced it would stop the winter fuel payment, except for those with a pension credit or means-tested benefits.
According to Somerville, the winter fuel payment will come back into effect by winter 2025.
About 900,000 people will receive it, with those who already get pension credits or other benefits getting a £200 or £300 payment according to age, and other pensioners receiving £100. These payments are limited to one per household.
Somerville said the government intends to bring forward regulations to introduce the universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.
By taking this action, Sommerville said the Scottish government was protecting pensioners from “the harsh reality” of the UK government’s policies.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, claimed that the universal fuel payment was scrapped due to financial issues inherited from the previous Conservative government and that restricting the eligibility of the benefit would save £1.4bn this financial year.
The Scottish government followed shortly after, devolving the winter fuel payment and withdrawing necessary benefits to those in need.
Somerville added: “We will do our best to make sure no one has to make a decision between heating and eating, and we will continue to protect pensioners.”
Age Scotland Chief Executive Katherine Crawford said she was delighted with the announcement: “It would have been absolutely fantastic to be in a position to reinstate the full winter fuel payment for pensioners in Scotland as of now, but we do appreciate that logistically that would just have not been possible.”
But despite support from companies such as Advice Direct Scotland and End Fuel Poverty Coalition, they warned that pensioners are in need of support this winter. Somerville said that the change to UK eligibility rules left it with a £150m shortfall, and so plans had to be pushed back to 2025.
Andrew Bartlett, chief executive of Advice Direct Scotland, said: “Thousands of people are still facing the terrible reality of another winter where they must choose between putting the heating on and having a hot meal.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer argued that the increase in the state pension of £460 per year would outweigh losses for those who would not receive the winter fuel payment. But the state pension increase will be spread over the year, whereas the winter fuel payment is usually paid in November or December.
Liz Smith, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Security, said that many pensioners still won’t receive the help they need and accused the Scottish government of “trying to hoodwink people”.
“They would like them to forget that they were prepared to shamefully follow Labour’s lead, and shouldn’t be acting like they have delivered an early Christmas present for pensioners,” Smith said.
