Northern Ireland's Winter Fuel Payment 'mitigation' likely to be cash payments as Gordon Lyons finalises details with DWP

The extra cash for Gordon Lyons’s department was announced on Monday, and will be used to “mitigate the shortfall” for pensioners who lost the winter benefit when the Chancellor decided to make it means tested rather than universal.

The News Letter understands that Stormont’s department for communities plans to make direct payments to those who are no longer eligible for the UK scheme, and is working with the UK department for work and pensions about how it will be distributed. Payments are likely to be made early next year.

Rachel Reeves changed eligibility rules earlier this year, meaning that only pensioners who receive certain benefits will be entitled to the £300 payment.

Only people on pension credit or certain other benefits will receive the winter fuel payments this year, while more than nine million others are set to be stripped of the allowance.

If Stormont had wanted to keep the payments, it would have cost over £40m per year – and that money would have had to come out of the Executive’s budget.

Instead, ministers agreed to set aside £17m for this winter to help those who lost out this year.

The replacement scheme being worked on by Mr Lyons and his officials is not permanent, and is designed to ease the blow to pensioners who – while not necessarily in the lowest income brackets – have factored the £300 payment into their household budget for many years.

DUP minister Gordon Lyons said: “I am pleased to have secured £17m to help mitigate the shortfall felt by many of our pensioners losing out on the Winter Fuel Payment.

“I had asked my officials for options about how this money can be used to help those who have lost out and, now it is secured, I am putting the formal processes in place with the Department for Work & Pensions to finalise the details.

“I will be making a Ministerial statement to the Assembly in due course.”

Reacting to the funding on Monday, the UUP said the extra cash is welcome – but will fall “far short of meeting the vast need”. The party’s communities spokesperson Andy Allen also said the support must be rolled out quickly with winter fast approaching.

The East Belfast MLA said: “The Communities Minister previously indicated that 249,600 pensioners in Northern Ireland are no longer eligible to receive Winter Fuel Payments due to the last-minute decision by the UK Government to alter the eligibility criteria.

“This disgraceful decision left many low-income pensioner households, who were counting on this support, in a precarious situation.

“While the allocation of £17 million for winter fuel support is welcome, against the backdrop of a challenging Executive budget landscape, it falls far short of meeting the vast need.

“The Minister must urgently outline a clear plan for delivering this support, ensuring it reaches those most in need. With winter fast approaching, it is critical that this support is rolled out promptly, aligning with broader efforts to tackle fuel poverty”.

Speaking about the stretched resources facing all executive ministers, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said on Monday that “no minister has received what they have asked for in this, and therefore these processes are always about trying to work with ministers around what they can get”.

In London, the Conservatives have accused ministers of having “negligently underestimated” how many pensioners will “fall through the cracks” following the cuts. Tory shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately urged Labour frontbenchers to press Chancellor Rachel Reeves to “think again” about means-testing the payments.

However, DWP minister Emma Reynolds said the Government has done “everything in line” with the duty to provide an equality analysis of the decision.

Ms Reynolds noted Ms Whately had not apologised for the previous Tory administration’s record, adding: “We didn’t want to take the decision to means-test winter fuel payments but we’ve had to do this, to take some difficult decisions, in order to clear up the mess, to tackle the fiscal inheritance and start rebuilding our public services, which pensioners across the country and many, many others rely on.”

Those still eligible for the normal winter fuel payment will normally get the Winter Fuel Payment automatically and should receive a letter by the end of November saying how much they are entitled to. The deadline for making a claim for winter 2024/25 is 31 March 2025.