A Yorkshire pensioner fears that elderly people will freeze to death this winter as they cannot pay their bills.
Susan Worsnop, 75, from Gipton in Leeds, told GB News that she struggles to heat her home and has worried for her own mortality, as well as for older people like her who are unable to afford gas and electric.
It comes as wait times for claims to be processed doubled in a month for pension credit, which is now being used as the means test for winter fuel payments.
The removal of the winter fuel allowance has left nearly 10 million pensioners without an automatic right to the payment, worth up to £300, after Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the rule changes to plug a £22bn funding gap.
People across the country have protested over the Winter Fuel Payment cuts
GB News
Grandmother Susan Worsnop spoke to GB News at The Old Fire Station, a community hub in East Leeds, which she uses as a place to keep warm.
“The winter fuel payment meant I could put more gas and electric on, but now I just can’t,” she said.
“To save gas and electric, I come in here. A lot of people come in here to keep warm. When I’m a home, I’ve got this [a fluffy jumper] on and I put a blanket on. The heating is on minute just to keep the cold off and the gas and electric on my meter soon goes down, it doesn’t last long and I’m sick of putting money on it.
“A lot of people will end up passing with the cold because they sit and they wrap up and don’t move about and a lot of them will die.”
When asked if she fears dying due to cold, Susan Worsnop said “sometimes”, but said that she moves about and drinks hot liquids to keep warm.
She added: “I think pensioners are penalised quite a lot. They shouldn’t penalise pensioners. When the heating goes off, it goes really cold.
“They [the government] should give pensioners something, even if it’s not whatever it was, the £300 [winter fuel allowance] just to give them half of that, so they can survive.”
Figures released this month by the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall projected that 50,000 more pensioners could be in “relative poverty after housing costs” in the financial year ending 2025, a similar number the year after, and then 100,000 in the year ending 2027.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Revealed: Winter Fuel Payment axe leaves vulnerable pensioners TERRIFIED of heating their homes – ‘I only get out of bed to eat’
- ‘They are already struggling!’ Pensioners delivered another ‘kick in the teeth’ from Labour after being left ‘terrified’ to switch on heating
- Pensioners retiring abroad face 25 per cent charge after little known tax loophole change in Budget
The Old Fire Station, a community hub in East Leeds, is used as a place to keep warm
GB News
It then drops to 50,000 people in the financial year ending 2028, before going back up to 100,000 for the years ending 2029 and 2030. These stark statistics come as only those eligible for pension credit will have government support for fuel bills this winter.
With only around 1.5 million older people entitled to the benefit, tens of thousands of pensioners, like Paul Coleman, will be forced to choose between heating and eating.
The 73-year-old told GB News: “I’m on medication which actually thins my blood, so I feel the cold even more.
“But that doesn’t seem to come into it. I’m probably just over the limit [for pension credit], but I can’t get it [the winter fuel allowance] now, so we very rarely have the heating on.
“I sit in a nightgown and a big furry sort of onesie and a fur hat. I shouldn’t have to sit like that on an evening in my home, but me and my wife have to.
“People say pensioners are ‘millionaires’ because they have assets, but what do they want you to do? Sell your house so you can put your gas fire or heating on?
“They [the Government] need to have a re-think about it.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall Kendall says the DWP has written to 120,000 pensioners to encourage them to claim the pension credit to which they may be entitled.
She added that the decision to cut the winter fuel payment was “not a decision this government wanted or expected to take” and said: “We were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22bn black hole we inherited.”Given the dire state of the public finances, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most.”
The Government has also said that many pensioners will benefit from the £150 warm home discount and cold weather payments to help with energy bills and that millions of pensioners are also set to benefit from an increase of up to £470 to the state pension in April.
But for people like Kay Haigh, the funding is not enough. She lives with and cares for her elderly mother who needs the heating on constantly, and feels the Government is ‘out of touch’.
The 51-year-old unpaid carer told GB News: “The government should do it where they are not allowed their wages, their credit cards, their whatever goodness they’ve got.
“They should live in and get a council house and find a way to start decorating, find a way to start getting beds and sofas and everything we’ve had to do, and see how they feel when they’ve spent a good few months living hand-to-mouth.”
The centre provides discounted meals to the community, a food and clothing bank, a space to keep warm and socialise, and free events for the young and old
GB News
The Old Fire Station is a lifeline for the community in Gipton.
The centre provides discounted meals to the community, a food and clothing bank, a space to keep warm and socialise, and free events for the young and old.
It also offers a place for a wide range of not-for-profit organisations to come together and provide services, support, advice and information for those that live in the area.
Laura Fulleylove is the Events and Reception Assistant at The Old Fire Station. She told GB News: “Gipton, Harehills, this area of East Leeds is one of the most deprived areas, probably in the country. It’s underfunded.
“It [The Old Fire Station] gives older people, well, everyone who comes here really, that sense of belonging to something a bit more than just being sat at home, freezing in the cold, not just a warm temperature wise, but a warm welcome, smiles on faces and a really nice place to be.
“We have free WiFi and people can come and stay warm and connect to the internet and we’ve got a variety of different groups and pride ourselves on being a warm space and are part of the Warm Welcome Campaign.
“A lot of older people will come for a coffee and a chat with friends and we have a lot of ex-firemen who come here to chat with their colleagues who used to work here about their memories.
“We have lots of different groups and it helps reduce social isolation too.”
Pensioners whose weekly income is below £218.15 for a single person or £332.95 for a couple are being encouraged to check if they could be eligible for pension credit, in order to receive the winter fuel payment.
To check your eligibility for pension credit via the government’s online calculator, click here
Information is also available on how to make a claim here or call 0800 99 1234.
Around 1.4 million pensioners already receive pension credit, but up to an estimated 880,000 households eligible for the support fail to claim it.
The final date for making a backdated claim for pension credit, in order to receive the winter fuel payment, is December 21.