Devastating winter fuel payment cut means almost 59,000 Highland pensioners will lose out as just 6772 now qualify
The 19,496 pensioners in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey will be among 58,817 in the north of Scotland to lose the winter fuel payment this year – a drop of 88 per cent.
Numbers from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) reveal the scale of the problem for many – in Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey 19,496 people will lose the benefit and just 2,034 will get it.
In the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat of 21,123 pensioners just 2,122 now qualify while 19,001 lose out. And in Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross all 20,320 pensioners will lose the winter fuel payment, just 2,616 on pension credit now qualify.
At the end of July Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced only those on pension credit would receive the payment, the Scottish Government followed suit saying it had no other choice amid an estimated loss of £160 million.
Politicians from across the political divide have been almost unanimous in warning that the loss of the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment in the north will be felt more deeply because fuel poverty rates are already higher than the rest of the UK.
That is caused by the generally colder, wetter and windier weather in the Highlands – which is supported by Met Office research.
While the cost of living is still being felt by many who pay a premium for basic services like fuelling their cars – or heating their homes.
One report to the Scottish Affairs Committee by Dr Tim Allison, Director of Public Health, NHS Highland and Dr Hugo van Woerden, Visiting Professor, University of the Highlands and Islands provided evidence for the extra costs.
One of the main findings is that “to achieve a reasonable living standard in remote rural” area it typically costs 10-40 per cent more than elsewhere in the UK.
It added that fuel poverty in these areas are around 43 per cent of households while the Highland has the “fourth highest bill for electricity and gas” in Scotland.
Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey MP Graham Leadbitter said: “The decision to strip winter fuel payments from pensioners in the Highlands and Moray is utterly disgraceful. Recent figures show the devastating impact this will have, with thousands of my constituents losing vital support.
“In areas like Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey where the weather is consistently colder and the cost of living is significantly higher due to rural surcharges, this move will push many more into fuel poverty. It’s a shocking betrayal by this new Labour Government on some of the most vulnerable in our communities.
“Fuel poverty is already far too high, with average levels in the Highlands at 33 per cent—well above the Scottish average. This cut will only deepen that crisis, forcing older people to make impossible choices between heating their homes and putting food on the table.
“The UK Government needs to urgently reverse this decision and ensure our pensioners are protected, something I, and my SNP colleagues, will continue to do.”
Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston strongly disagree, saying: “Thousands of pensioners across the Highlands and Islands, where fuel poverty is already higher, will lose out because of Labour’s decision to cut funding for these payments.
“This is a cruel decision that will hurt thousands of elderly people across Scotland, especially in those areas where the cost of heating homes is already disproportionately high.
“However, responsibility for winter fuel payments has recently been devolved to the Scottish Government and so the SNP could still have delivered this support to vulnerable pensioners this winter if they had wanted to.
“Instead, SNP ministers have chosen to follow Labour’s lead and turn their backs on those struggling to heat their homes. Both Labour and the SNP have failed to show the leadership needed to protect those most at risk.”
