Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to p.9 of the policy document entitled Fixing the Foundations, published on 29 July 2024, what discussions her Department had with the Office for Budget Responsibility before estimating the savings to the public purse from limiting eligibility to Winter Fuel Payments to people in receipt of Pension Credit.

The Chancellor’s statement of 29 July made hard choices to reduce immediate spending pressures . It was not a fiscal event and was not accompanied by an economic and fiscal forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The Chancellor commissioned a forecast from the OBR in her statement of 29 July, to be published alongside a Budget on 30 October. The OBR will certify the methodology behind the costings of measures announced on 29 July, including the targeting of Winter Fuel Payments at recipients of Pension Credit and certain other means-tested benefits, in the usual way at the Budget.