Winter fuel change means 'saving pennies', says pensioner

Anne Greenan says she relied on the payment to make it through the winter months

An east Belfast pensioner who will no longer get the winter fuel payment following changes confirmed by Stormont has said she will have to cut back on food as a result.

On Friday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed Stormont will be following Westminster's lead, by means testing pensioners for the payments worth up to £300.

Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the payments of up to £300 would become means tested in England and Wales, and would only be given to those on certain benefits.

Anne Greenan, 87, who is chairperson of the Belfast East Seniors' Forum, had relied on the winter fuel payment to help her get through the colder months.

From this autumn, those not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will no longer get the annual payments, worth between £100 and £300.

Ms Greenan just misses out on qualifying for pension credit and said she will not receive the winter fuel payment.

Explaining its impact on her, she said: “It’s going to be food stuff I’ll be cutting down on, healthy foods, vegetables and that, things like that, that I enjoy.

“I don’t go out and socialise but I like nice things, I like nice food, but there’s going to have to be pennies saved here and pennies saved there.”

Ms Greenan described the changes as a "disgrace"

She added: “I just feel that we got through the pandemic, we’re getting back to normal but now what little we have left and got back to normal, they’ve taken it all away again.”

Ms Greenan said she expected Stormont to follow Westminster’s lead, but added the decision is a “disgrace”.

“It’s going to be heat or eat this winter for a lot of people, going to bed earlier, getting up later and saving every penny they can because it is difficult to heat your house in the winter time,” she said.

Ms Greenan said she understands the “Northern Ireland government is trying to make the money go as far as possible and improve the health service and improve other services as well”.

But she added: “Money just isn’t there, I wish they would give us something, maybe they’ll surprise us."

In a statement last week Gordon Lyons said he did not agree with the move

In a written statement to the assembly last week, Mr Lyons said while he did not agree with the move to follow Westminster’s lead, Stormont would be maintaining parity with the rest of the UK.

Section 87 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 generally means that social security benefits are paid at the same rates and with the same conditions of entitlement across the UK.

The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Older People, Eddie Lynch, said that it was “a disgraceful decision” that “lies directly with the UK government”.

“My fear is that this winter is going to be a really difficult one for thousands of older people across Northern Ireland,” he told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster.

Anti-fuel poverty campaigner Sinead Quinn, from Londonderry, called the decision “short-sighted” and warned it will "see a lot of people struggling”.

“The reality of it is, is that we live in a situation where we are in one of the richest countries but also one of the countries that pays one of the lowest rates of state pension,” she told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.

She added: “The people being affected by this aren’t on amazing incomes, you are talking about the threshold being those under £12,600 receiving a payment.

"The threshold is much, much too low.”

From this autumn, those not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will no longer get the annual payments

Any deviation from this principle of parity that results in additional expenditure in Northern Ireland must normally be paid by central government in what is known as a block grant.

The Treasury block grant accounts for more than 90% of the funding used for the day-to-day operation of services in Northern Ireland. The rest is raised locally from property taxes and other charges.