Pensioners' lives 'at risk from cuts to winter fuel allowance'

PRIME Minister David Cameron has been warned that pensioners' lives could be at risk if cuts were made to the winter fuel allowance.

The payments are being examined as part of a radical shake-up of the welfare system designed to save billions of pounds.

Last night Labour called on the coalition Government to "come clean" about the plans and there were warnings cutting the winter fuel allowance could cost lives.

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Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said savings had to be found in the welfare bill, while stressing that no final decisions had been taken ahead of October's Comprehensive Spending Review.

The coalition agreement between Mr Clegg's Liberal Democrats and the Prime Minister's Tory party pledges to "protect key benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment", but does not rule out reform.

But Labour pointed out that Mr Cameron had explicitly ruled out scrapping winter fuel payments during the General Election campaign.

Shadow Foreign Secretary and party leadership contender David Miliband said: "Up and down Britain, pensioners rely on this benefit to get by. The payments Labour introduced mean many pensioners can heat their homes without worrying and fretting over the energy bill to come.

"The Prime Minister's dishonesty is unacceptable."

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Dave Prentis, general secretary of public service union Unison, said cutting the winter fuel allowance could cost lives.

Mr Prentis said: "We cannot begin to call ourselves a civilised society if the Con-Dem Government allows elderly people to sit in the cold or freeze to death in their homes.

"They must think again if they are seriously considering cutting these payments, particularly to the very old, because they save lives."

The National Pensioners Convention also warned against changing the winter fuel allowance system.

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NPC general secretary Dot Gibson said: "The winter death rate amongst older people is a national scandal and getting worse.

"Last winter more than 36,700 pensioners died of cold-related illnesses – a staggering 13 pensioners every hour.

"Yet the Government is now considering taking the winter fuel allowance away from millions of households which will only make matters worse."

The Government is said to be considering raising the age at which people become eligible for the annual winter fuel handout from 60 to at least 66.

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The payment – worth 250, or 400 for the over-80s last winter – could also be cut by 50 for new recipients and 100 for the oldest.

Child benefit could also be reduced in order to fund root-and-branch welfare reforms proposed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

Yesterday Mr Clegg – covering for Mr Cameron while he is on holiday – declined to give his "personal opinion" on whether the allowance should be reformed. He said: "I have made it quite clear that the comprehensive spending review will be concluded in October.

"We have made it very clear – I have made it clear, George Osborne has made it clear, the Prime Minister has made it clear – that what we want to do in every area of the comprehensive spending review is not duck the difficult decisions but to implement them as fairly and equitably as possible."

MESSAGE UNDERMINED BY VENUE SELL-OFF

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Nick Clegg took his social mobility message to a children's centre at risk of being sold off by a Conservative council.

The Deputy Prime Minister visited the Shepherds Bush Families Project and Children's Centre in west London, which provides childcare and support for families, and immediately walked into a row over the sell-off of the building.

The Tory-run Hammersmith and Fulham Council that funds the centre wants to sell the site to save money.

The council insisted the service itself would not be affected, but parents told Mr Clegg of their worries that it would. Tina Mayers, joint manager of the nursery, said the proposed alternative site for the service was unsuitable.

Mr Clegg told them it was not he who would be making the decision and his office said it was a matter for the council.