Will pension increase make up for loss of winter fuel payments?

The shadow leader of the House of Commons made this claim in a tweet, external.

This figure comes from research by the former pensions minister Steve Webb, external for the pensions consultancy LCP.

He found that there were 1.9 million pensioners in poverty, of whom only 300,000 were receiving pension credit and hence would continue to get winter fuel payments. That leaves 1.6 million, which is 84% of the total, not getting the payment.

Pension credit is a benefit paid to people of state pension age with low incomes. It can also help with some housing costs.

The figures in the report come from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Stat-Xplore tool. BBC Verify used the same tool to confirm the figures.

There are a few problems with the 84% figure. The first is that these figures come from government surveys and they understate the number of people receiving pension credit by about 300,000 compared with the DWP’s separate publication, external showing the number of actual claimants.

That does not necessarily mean the 84% figure is wrong – we do not have the data to tell us that.

The second point is that pension credit is designed to bring people up to an income close to the one that is being used to indicate poverty. That is why a relatively small number of pension credit recipients count as being in poverty on this measure.

What is interesting in the report is the reasons why some of the recipients are still in poverty and why some pensioners in poverty are not getting pension credit.

The government estimates, external that there are 880,000 households who are eligible for the benefit but not claiming it.

The report highlights other reasons, such as those who are still paying mortgages – pension credit may not cover all of a recipient’s mortgage costs, external. Also, those renting from a private landlord may find they have to meet some of their housing costs, external.