A Tory minister floated the idea of stripping some pensioners of financial help with their heating bills, a leaked recording shows.
John Glen told a Conservative gathering at Cambridge University last month that his elderly mother was "perfectly comfortable" and didn't need the winter fuel payment, which helps older people with their energy bills. Mr Glen, who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the time, suggested the money could be better spent alleviating child poverty but said rationing the financial support would be "very difficult".
People born before September 25 1957 can get between £250 and £600 to help with their energy bills through the winter fuel payment, which was introduced by Labour in 1997. A Government spokesman denied there would be changes in this week's Autumn Statement, saying: “That is not something we are going to do.”
But in a recording from October 26, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, Mr Glen questioned the Government's position that all pensioners should be eligible for help with their bills rather than just the most needy. He said: “I think we also need to come to terms with the fact that the triple lock is very expensive and how sustainable is that going forward in terms of pensions and all the other benefits?
"Because my mother, she’s not very rich but she’s perfectly comfortable. She just texted me today aged 75 to say ‘I’ve just heard about my £500 winter fuel payment’ and I’m just like ‘you don’t need that’.
“But finding a mechanism to try and ration that [the Winter Fuel Payment] is very difficult because our HMRC system will look at household incomes. These are the sorts of mechanics of government you’ve got to look at. Is it better if we spent more of that money on child poverty? It probably is. But these are the sorts of things I think we need to look at.”
His comments also come amid speculation has been mounting over whether Rishi Sunak will maintain pension triple lock in its current form. The policy, which was a Tory manifesto commitment, puts up the state pension each April in line with whichever measure is highest of inflation, average wage increases or 2.5%.
Today, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Gareth Davies said there were "no plans" to reduce the number of pensioners eligible to receive winter fuel payments. He told Sky News: "We are not going to be touching the winter fuel allowance."
Pressed on whether he was ruling out means testing the benefit, he said: "We have no plans to change the winter fuel allowance. But we have a strong record of supporting pensioners so we will always stand by our pensioners to ensure they have a dignified retirement and security in retirement."
It comes as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt weighs up cutting working-age welfare payments for millions of people in Wednesday's Autumn Statement. Ministers traditionally use September's inflation figures when uprating working-age benefits, which would mean a 6.7% hike. But Mr Hunt has not ruled out using October's figure of 4.6%, which economists say would slash spending by billions.
The Chancellor failed to stamp out speculation of personal tax cuts ahead of Wednesday, telling the BBC he wanted to put the UK on "the path to lower taxes" but would "only do so in a responsible way" that did not "sacrifice the progress on inflation".