Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment on hospital admissions.

This is not a decision any Government would want to make, but we inherited a £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. Difficult decisions are required.

We continue to stand behind vulnerable households by:

• Increasing the state pension by around £460 for over 12 million pensioners in April, because of our commitment to protect the triple lock.
• Delivering the £150 Warm Home Discount for low-income households and providing £421 million to extend the Household Support Fund.

We are encouraging pensioners to check their eligibility for Pension Credit to ensure as many people as possible have access to support they’re entitled to. We have seen a 152% increase in claims since announcement.

An equality assessment was published by DWP on the 13^th of September.