Richard Foord MP welcomes winter fuel payment U-turn

Richard Foord, MP for Honiton & Sidmouth, has welcomed the Government’s about-turn on the winter fuel payment.

In the months after the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance was announced, Mr Foord’s office was flooded with correspondence from local people worried that they were not going to be able to afford to pay their heating bills.

He said: “As a vocal opponent of the changes announced last year for linking the winter fuel payment to Pension Credit, I welcome this U-turn. The cut risked impoverishing many older people in Mid- and East Devon. I am grateful to those people who wrote to me about it. Together, we have helped ministers see sense on this. 

“The eligibility threshold had previously been set too low. I had said all along that the Government could means test by all means, but not at such a low level of eligibility.

“I met with the pensions minister in his office and let him know about the effect that the cuts in eligibility for the payment were having on people in Mid- and East Devon.”

Mr Foord added: “The wrong-headed move to scrap the winter fuel allowance for most older people led to much unnecessary stress and worry in Devon, and across the country.

“I am delighted that many more older people will now receive the payment. I hope that those who struggled without it last winter will be relieved at this change of heart, which I and so many of us here in Devon pressed for.”