A group of retired workers have hand-delivered thousands of responses to a consultation, demanding the reversal of a “cruel” winter fuel payment policy to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.
The consultation responses were handed personally to Mr Lyons, who met with a delegation of retired Unite members during a demonstration outside his department’s headquarters in Belfast today (Thursday).
Winter fuel payments were first introduced in 1997 to help everyone above state pension age with their winter heating bills, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announcement in July 2024 means the payment is now restricted to those on benefits and pension credit.
The move reduced the number of pensioners receiving the payment by around 10 million.
The Department for Communities (DfC) announced in November 2024 that NI would be maintaining parity with the rest of the UK in means-testing the payments, though the minister himself made it clear that he disagreed with the plans.
It was estimated about 249,000 pensioners in Northern Ireland were going to be affected by cuts to winter fuel payments this year.
Mr Lyons said pensioners in NI affected by the cuts would get a one-off £100 payment. Unions however said this payment falls well short of the original £200 benefit and is yet to materialise.
The consultation on the changes to the scheme remains open until March 2.
Unite has also launched legal action in the form of a judicial review against the winter fuel payment cut, arguing the move is unlawful and risks increasing cold-related deaths among older people.
Lawyers were instructed in November last year to bring action at the High Court demanding an urgent judicial review of the policy.
General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “Pensioners are being forced to choose between heating and eating.
“This cut is disgraceful, and the £100 offered as compensation is entirely inadequate. The department for communities must reverse this cruel policy immediately.”
Brian Heading, Chair of the Unite retired members, handing over consultation responses to Minister Lyons
Brian Heading, Chair of Unite retired members, said the Department had rubber-stamped the cut without proper consultation.
“Thousands of submissions show the strength of public anger. Pensioners won’t be ignored,” he added.
DUP minister Mr Lyons said it was up to the UK Government to reverse their policy on the payment.
“There are some people that are just at the borderline, that don’t qualify for pension credit or other benefits,” he told the BBC.
“We’ll do what we can as an executive but ultimately the government need to recognise they made a mistake and they need to reverse course.”
It comes after the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) revealed a 64% increase in pension credit applications in the period following the government’s announcement on the winter fuel payment.
The DWP said that the highest recorded level of weekly pension credit claims awarded by the Department was the week commencing January 20 2025, with 7,600 claims awarded.
In addition to the thousands of successful claims, many were rejected.
The DWP declined 114,500 pension credit claims from between July 29 2024 and February 23 2025, representing a 133% increase in not awarded figures compared with 49,100 claims rejected between July 31 2023 and February 25 2024.