Labour MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan MP, has tabled a motion on the Winter Fuel Payment asking the government to delay the ending of the allowance while it establishes a "comprehensive strategy".
Mr Duncan-Jordan posted on X: "I have tabled this motion on the Winter Fuel payment and I am asking other MPs to show their support."
Early Day Motion
That this House is concerned that The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 are being introduced without prior consultation or an impact assessment, nor with sufficient time to put in place a proper and effective take-up campaign for Pension Credit, fails to take account of the modest incomes of those who are just above the entitlement threshold to Pension Credit, and needs to acknowledge the worrying annual excess winter death figures among pensioners, recognising that they were introduced prior to the announcement of a sharp rise in the Energy Price Cap by 10% from 1 October 2024, and will introduce a bureaucratic and unpopular means test which undermines the benefits of universalism when older people have higher energy costs due to comorbidities and finding it harder to retain their heat, alongside many living in housing with poor insulation, so recognise that colder homes make older people more susceptible to poor health, including hyperthermia, respiratory and circulatory disease and therefore calls on Government to delay the ending of the Winter Fuel Payments while it establishes a comprehensive strategy aimed at tackling fuel poverty, health inequalities and low incomes among older people.
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP
Working for Poole
https://twitter.com/NeilForPoole/status/1830605955132006453
