Social Security Advisory Committee: Winter Fuel Payment

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, I trust that the Minister will agree that the Social Security Advisory Committee made six reasonable recommendations in its letter. I urge all noble Lords to read it. I ask the Minister to respond to the letter, particularly covering the point about the additional cost of pension credit against the savings of the winter fuel allowance. There are a number of other benefits that pensioners may well get that could be impacted by taking pension credit. I am sure that all the things the committee raised in the letter would raise unintended consequences, but we want to avoid making a difficult position worse. I draw noble Lords’ attention to one:

“We would encourage the government to assess the equity of excluding housing benefit as a qualifying benefit on the basis of incomes after housing costs, rather than on the basis of gross incomes”.


When the Minister replies to that letter, I ask that she place a copy in the Library for all noble Lords to see.