Posted By Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on May 5, 2025
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government is rethinking last year's move that took winter fuel payments away from millions of pensioners, the Guardian newspaper reported on Monday, following the loss of a parliamentary seat by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party in the recent by-election.
Citing sources from Starmer's office, the Guardian reported that the government was considering whether to increase the 11,500-pound threshold over which pensioners were no longer eligible for the allowance.
Under plans set out by finance minister Rachel Reeves within weeks of taking office in July, households in England and Wales were no longer entitled to the winter fuel payment unless they received pension credit or certain other means-tested benefits, affecting millions of pensioners.
A full reversal of that move was not expected, the report said.
The government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.
Labour, which lost the parliamentary seat to right-wing Reform UK party led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, also underperformed Reform in the local elections that coincided with the by-election last week.
(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
