All Scottish pensioners to get winter gas cost
Each pensioner family in Scotland will obtain a winter gas cost subsequent 12 months, the Scottish authorities has introduced.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville stated these in receipt of qualifying advantages like Pension Credit score would get £200 or £300 relying on their age, whereas all others would get £100.
The funds – that are restricted to 1 cost per family – will probably be paid via a brand new Scottish Parliament profit, which won’t be prepared till late 2025.
The UK authorities scrapped common entitlement to winter gas funds earlier this 12 months, with solely these on Pension Credit score or different advantages eligible.
The Scottish authorities was on account of take over duty for winter gas funds in September – however the introduction of a brand new common profit was delayed after the UK authorities choice.
Somerville stated the change to UK eligibility guidelines left it with a £150m shortfall, and it had no alternative however to push its plans again till late 2025.
The change means an estimated 900,000 pensioners in Scotland are lacking out on a gas cost this winter.
In an announcement at Holyrood, Somerville instructed MSPs that subsequent winter Scots could be entitled to the newly-devolved Pension Age Winter Heating Fee.
She stated: “This common profit – offering much-needed help not obtainable anyplace else within the UK – will ship help for all pensioner households as we had at all times meant to do earlier than the UK authorities choice to means-test winter gas funds minimize the funding obtainable to help our new profit in Scotland this winter by £147m.
“We won’t abandon older folks this winter or any winter.
“We are going to do our greatest to ensure no-one has to decide between heating and consuming, and we’ll proceed to guard pensioners.”
The social justice secretary additionally introduced a £41m help package deal, with £20m in welfare funding for councils this monetary 12 months and £20m for the Hotter Houses Scotland Scheme.
There will probably be an additional £1m for social landlords and the third sector for homelessness prevention work.
PA MediaSomerville’s assertion has been seen by some as an try and outmanoeuvre Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar, who had vowed to undo a number of the cuts from Westminster.
Labour MSPs had referred to as on the Scottish authorities to make use of further UK funding from the Chancellor’s Autumn assertion to offer common protection to pensioners this 12 months.
Labour MSP Paul O’Kane stated the £41m package deal was equal to a Holyrood money increase coming through a rise in Treasury spending on the UK Family Help Fund.
He additionally pointed to an enhance of £3.4bn in subsequent 12 months’s Scottish Price range.
In the meantime, Scottish Conservative social safety spokeswoman Liz Smith accused ministers of “hoodwinking” pensioners by pretending {that a} full winter gas cost was being launched.
She highlighted than many would obtain a lowered £100 cost.
The UK authorities stated the winter gas cost minimize was on account of a “black gap” in public funds left by the earlier Conservative authorities.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated a rise within the state pension – which is ready to rise by £460 per 12 months in April – would “outstrip” losses for many who wouldn’t obtain the winter gas cost.
Nevertheless, the state pension enhance will probably be unfold over the 12 months from subsequent April, whereas the winter gas cost is normally paid in November or December.
‘We’re residing in arduous occasions’
At a lunch membership for pensioners in Crieff, Perthshire, run by the Royal Voluntary Service, a number of attendees stated occasions had been made more durable by the UK authorities’s transfer to limit funds.
“It is a horrible choice to need to make, whether or not you warmth the home or whether or not you purchase meals, stated Fay Murphy.
“It’s fairly surprising and it’s getting worse in some areas in Scotland,” she added.
Ms Murphy stated the motion by the Scottish authorities was welcome, though she stated she was involved about how that may be funded.
However Geoff Mayne, 84, stated he believed the UK choice to limit the profit within the first place was “completely honest.”
“You had been giving cash to individuals who do not actually need it,” he stated.
“I am unable to assist however really feel it was the appropriate choice to ensure it went to the individuals who wanted it, however to not everyone. That features me.”
At Inchgarth Group Centre in Aberdeen Harry Buck, 71, stated it was “a little bit of a priority” that he would get no gas cost this winter.
“I do not obtain any credit in any respect so I am going to not obtain any extra assist from the federal government.
“I am most likely fortunate sufficient that I can afford my payments simply now, so it would nonetheless be attention-grabbing to see the way it goes this 12 months with out that wee bit of additional assist.”
Age Scotland chief government Katherine Crawford stated she was delighted with the announcement following the UK authorities’s “disastrous” advantages minimize.
She stated the £41m funding package deal, to be distributed via native authorities this 12 months, was “constructive”, with 4 in 10 Scottish pensioners in gas poverty.
Ms Crawford stated: “It might have been completely unbelievable to be able to reinstate the total winter gas cost for pensioners in Scotland as of now, however we do admire that logistically that may simply haven’t been attainable.”
It has been beforehand reported that as much as 40% of eligible pensioners don’t apply for Pension Credit score.
Nevertheless, new UK authorities figures present a spike in claims since Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed her plans to means check the winter gas cost.
She introduced the transfer on 29 July. Within the 16 weeks since then, about 150,000 Pension Credit score functions have been made throughout the UK – up by virtually 150% in contrast with the 16 weeks earlier than the chancellor’s assertion.
But the variety of approvals has risen by simply 17% over the identical interval, whereas refusals virtually doubled from 27,100 to 53,100.
Meaning 81,000 extra pensioners have obtained the additional money for the reason that summer season, out of a attainable 880,000 individuals who the federal government believes are eligible for the cash.
The UK authorities is urging pensioners to examine if they’re eligible for the profit.
Those that apply earlier than 21 December will obtain backdated funds of each Pension Credit score and the winter gas allowance.
The Division for Work and Pensions has deployed 500 further employees to deal with claims for the profit.
It is a vital coverage announcement from the Scottish authorities.
Having stated they’d match the UK authorities’s choice to limit the winter gas cost to older folks in receipt of Pension Credit score, they’ve now determined to do one thing totally different.
They’ve discovered a bit of additional money to assist the neediest households this winter. They’re additionally promising ALL Scottish pensioner households a winter gas cost of a minimum of £100 subsequent 12 months, with the poorest pensioners persevering with to obtain £200-£300.
Meaning many pensioners in Scotland might get a greater deal than they’d in England, even when that deal is not so good as it was once throughout the UK.
The supply isn’t very totally different to what Scottish Labour has been demanding, which could appear a bit odd as a result of it was the Labour authorities at Westminster that began this controversy by making the preliminary cuts.
