Member

Other suggestions included adding a big increase to the 25p age addition, which the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, suggested. Part of the problem with that is that not only would that become taxable but it could make recipients fail the means test for pension credit if they take that as well. Likewise, rolling winter fuel payments into the state pension would just give it to everybody, even those who do not need it. When public money is this tight, that is not the right way forward. As regards creating a new higher stand-alone threshold, I can see that is tempting, but it is just not practical as we would have to build a whole new means test for a payment of two or three hundred pounds once a year. Pensioners would then have to make a separate claim and be separately assessed just for winter fuel payments. By linking entitlement to pension credit, not only can we ensure we support the poorest pensioners but we can make sure we pay pretty much all of those who are eligible automatically.