Winter fuel cut impact was not assessed, says Starmer

The government did not carry out an impact assessment on cutting winter fuel support for millions of pensioners in England and Wales, the prime minister has said.

Sir Keir Starmer said he had not been shown any analysis privately about the possible consequences of his decision to take away the payment from older people who do not receive pension credit.

The Liberal Democrats said not carrying out an impact assessment before cutting support was "absolutely unthinkable". The Conservatives have also been calling for an impact assessment.

Sir Keir said: “There isn’t a report on my desk which somehow we’re not showing.”

Speaking to reporters during a flight to the US, the prime minister added: “I know you think there’s a report on my desk but there isn’t one."

He said it was not legally necessary for an official assessment of the plan to be done in advance.

Earlier, a Downing Street spokesman had said: “There are clear rules on this that we followed carefully."

No 10 pointed to the fact the mechanism the government chose to make this change, known as a statutory instrument, only requires an impact assessment if the cost of the legislation is greater than £10m – which it is not in this case.

At Prime Minister's Question Time on Wednesday, Conservative leader Rishi Sunak demanded the government publish its impact assessment of the measure and accused Sir Keir of "hiding" the analysis.

Speaking on Thursday, Sir Keir said the decision to remove winter fuel payments, worth up to £300 a year, from millions of pensioners was necessary to stabilise the economy, and that the government was putting "mitigations" in place.

“The impact will be mitigated by pension credit, by the housing benefit,” the prime minister continued.

The government has encouraged pensioners to check if they qualify for pension credit – and if so, to apply for it, as this would mean they would keep getting the winter fuel payment too.

Analysis by the House of Commons Library says that 10.8 million pensioners in England and Wales received the winter fuel payment last winter. This coming winter, 1.5 million will receive the payment.

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain said it was not too late for the government to change course.

"We know this will have massive knock-on effects for pensioners and potentially our NHS this winter as people are forced to choose between heating and eating," she said.

"Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to tax the big banks rather than punish pensioners to make up for the years of Conservative Party failure."