A Cambuslang councillor is pleading with the UK Government to extend the deadline for pensioners to apply for this year’s Winter Fuel Payment.
Liberal Democrat Dr Norman Rae has warned that tens of thousands of older people risk missing out on the payment, after the deadline of Saturday, December 21 passed.
The Westminster government’s own analysis shows that around 780,000 low-income pensioners were expected to miss out on support this winter even though they are eligible for pension credit.
The Labour government also admitted that tens of thousands of struggling pensioners are at risk of receiving their Winter Fuel Payment late this year, as the DWP struggles to process pension credit applications on time.
In response to a question tabled in Parliament by Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Spokesperson, Steve Darling MP, the government admitted that as of last month, there was a backlog of over 91,000 pensioners who were still waiting to find out if they’ll receive pension credit and the Winter Fuel Payment.
The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to extend the deadline to apply for pension credit to February 28 of next year, and to speed up the processing of applications so that no hard-pressed pensioners miss out.
Councillor Dr Norman Rae believes thousands of the poorest pensioners, many of them in South Lanarkshire, face being left out in the cold this Christmas because they won’t receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
He said: “The Labour government has caused an unnecessary crisis by its heartless removal of the winter fuel allowance this year. The least it can do is ensure that the most vulnerable pensioners, those entitled to pension credit, don’t miss out. The Deadline needs to be extended to February to ensure that as many eligible people as possible receive this important support.
“Applications must get processed much quicker to stop eligible pensioners going cold over the festive period.
“Older people across the country are having to make heart-breaking decisions over whether to heat their homes or eat over the Christmas period. The Labour government need to do everything they can to limit the damage of their wrong-headed decision to slash Winter Fuel Payments for millions of pensioners.”
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