'Plan to axe our winter fuel payment an injustice'

Gillian Hearn, 65, said the government needed to do more to support pensioners

Pensioners in Suffolk have hit out at the government’s controversial plan to axe winter fuel payments for millions of people.

MPs are set to vote on the proposal to scrap the winter fuel allowance – worth between £100 and £300 a year – for as many as 10 million elderly people.

The benefit is designed to help them with their energy bills but could now be offered to only the poorest of pensioners, such as those receiving pension credit.

Ipswich residents who rely on the payments have criticised the government's proposal, labelling it an injustice.

Carol Bennett, 77, has hit out at plans to axe winter fuel payments for pensioners

Carol Bennett, 77, lives with her husband, who has cancer and needs the heating on in the winter as much as possible.

She said: “One old lady said to me yesterday, ‘What is there to live for anymore? We might as well just lock ourselves away and they can find us when we are all dead'.

"After the war we rebuilt and made this country what it is today, and all we are getting is a slap in the face for it.

"I am angry because it is an injustice and I just do not understand their thinking."

Pat Goslin said she relied on her annual winter fuel payments

Pat Goslin, who is in her 70s, has been receiving the payments for the last three years, and said she did not know what she would do without them.

"It is going to the poorest people, but I think that’s unfair because I've had three heart attacks and a stroke, so I am supposed to have the heating on," she said.

"I will have to have blankets on me I think because I can’t afford [to have the heating on]."

Defending the move, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC that axing the payments was "tough", but he hoped it would contribute to "fixing the foundation".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said axing the winter fuel payments was "tough"

But Gillian Hearn, 65, said: "[Politicians] haven't reached that age so they don't really know what life is like for an older person.

"If you haven’t been through it then you don't know, and they haven't got a clue."

Jack Abbott, MP for Ipswich, said the decision to means-test the winter fuel allowance was "not one that anyone wanted to take".

He added: “But when the chancellor set out the £22bn black hole in the public finances, left and covered up by the previous government, it was clear that inaction would put the UK’s financial stability at risk.

"The government is unequivocally committed to the triple lock on pensions, which saw an increase of £900 in the state pension this year.

"The government has also announced plans to extend the household support fund to target help to those who most need it, increase uptake of pension credit... and upgrade millions of homes through the warm homes plan."