Has the government ‘scrapped’ cost of living support for pensioners?

During Prime Minister’s Questions last week Leader of the Opposition Rishi Sunak MP claimed that the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, had “scrapped” both the Winter Fuel Payment and “hundreds of pounds of additional cost of living support” received by pensioners under the Conservative government last year.

It is true that the majority of pensioners will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment (which provides £200 or £300 to help pay for heating bills over the winter months) from this winter following a decision taken by the government to means-test the payment announced in July.

But it’s not quite right to say the payment has been “scrapped” entirely. Pensioners in England and Wales who receive Pension Credit or certain other benefits will remain eligible.

The government estimates that around 2.3 million pensioners are eligible for Pension Credit, of whom around 880,000 don’t claim it. But most of the 11.4 million pensioners who received the Winter Fuel Payment in 2022/23 (the latest year for which data is available) will no longer receive it.

It’s also not clear which “additional cost of living support” Mr Sunak is claiming has been ended by Mr Starmer’s government, and we’ve contacted him to ask for clarification.

Last winter pensioners received a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment worth either £150 or £300, paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment.

These payments, which were also made to pensioners in 2022/23, were described as a “one-off” by the government, and in November 2023 Mims Davies MP—at the time a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)—confirmed there were “currently no plans to extend the Cost of Living Payments beyond the Spring”. There was also no mention of extending these payments in the Conservative government’s Spring Budget. The DWP confirmed to Full Fact the 2022/23 and 2023/24 payments were ‘one-offs’, with no plans to continue the series of payments in 2024/25. 

So we can’t find specific evidence that further Pensioner Cost of Living Payments were planned, ahead of the general election, for the coming winter, that the incoming Labour government subsequently “scrapped”.

The Conservative party’s 2024 general election manifesto pledged to “maintain all current pensioner benefits, including free bus passes, Winter Fuel Payments, free prescriptions and TV licences”, but did not reference the Cost of Living Payment.

Labour’s manifesto did not mention the Winter Fuel Payment or the additional Cost of Living Payment.

Pensioners remain eligible for the Household Support Fund which in March was extended by the previous government for six months, and has subsequently been extended for a further six months, to at least April 2025, by the new government.

MPs must provide evidence for what they say. Inaccurate claims about government policies have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals, parties or how they choose to vote.