Member

Some noble Lords have questioned whether means testing the winter fuel payment will achieve the intended savings, given increasing claims for pension credit. I just want to make clear to the House that the estimated savings from this policy assume increased take-up of pension credit in line with the highest levels it has ever reached. We want everybody who is going to go out there who is possibly entitled to claim this to do so. Some noble Lords have speculated whether, if every single person claimed pension credit who was entitled to it and got the winter fuel payment, we would save any money. In a hypothetical world, if every single person who could get pension credit gets it and gets the winter fuel allowance, do you know what we would have done? We would have taken one of the least targeted benefits in the world and turned it into one of the best targeted benefits in the world. Let us see what happens when we get out there.