I get £2.60 ‘an excessive amount of’ and worry Keir Starmer’s winter gas reduce will kill me | UK | News | EUROtoday

A pensioner has stated he is been left £500 a month worse off as a result of he will get simply £2.60 greater than the pension credit score cap.

Arthur Bowling, 65, from Waterloo, Merseyside, stated the lack of his winter gas fee has left him fearing for his life.

Mr Bowling defined the small quantity above the £218 per week restrict meant he has to make a bigger fee to cowl his hire.

He informed the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m not one of these supposedly ‘rich pensioners’. I live off my pension but my income exceeds the threshold for pension credit by £2.60 per week so now I’m £500 worse off in rent payments every month and now I’ll miss out on the fuel payment.

“For the sake of some quid I’m going through the prospect of dying this winter and I’m not the one one. This will put 1000’s of pensioners in danger.

“I’m afraid for others and I’m afraid for myself. After spending so long in hospital I need the warmth and now I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get through the next few months. It’s a massive slap in the face.”

The pensioner stated he spent a month in intensive care with Covid in the course of the pandemic in 2021 and suffers from lengthy Covid, in response to the Liverpool Echo.

From this winter, solely folks on pension credit score or different particular advantages shall be eligible to obtain the low cost, whereas about 10 million others are set to be stripped of the allowance.

Around 71 % of these with a incapacity and 83 % of these aged 80 or over will now miss out on the fee.

People will solely obtain the cash in the event that they meet sure eligibility standards.

Pensioners will obtain a letter in October or November informing them if they may obtain the profit, with the fee made in November or December.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have insisted the choice was obligatory to assist handle a disputed £22billion “black hole” within the public funds this yr that they declare to have inherited from the Conservatives.

Sir Keir Starmer’s authorities final week confronted accusations of attempting to cover from the “horrific” influence of the choice to strip winter gas funds.

Figures had been quietly slipped out on Friday evening after Downing Street stated a full influence evaluation of the change had not been carried out.

Conservative Party management candidate James Cleverly stated the winter gas fee reduce was an “unbelievably foolish choice” whereas Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokeswoman Wendy Chamberlain stated means-testing the fee price as much as £300 was a “historic mistake”.