Mean(s) Testing

Snapshot: why we oppose the government's Winter Fuel Payment 'means test' in it's current form.

Today, Labour MPs backed the government’s plans to ‘means test’ the ‘Winter Fuel Payment’; a policy which previously provided a state funded payment of £200 or £300 to each pensioner in the UK, to aid them in meeting the costs of winter energy bills.

‘Means testing’ is sensible, and as a general principle, it aligns with the rationale behind progressive taxation. Those who can afford to pay more in tax, should, and those who do not ‘need’ a state funded ‘benefit’ should not be in receipt of it. These principles aim to ensure that government funds are raised and spent effectively and fairly.

It is therefore sensible to ‘means test’ the Winter Fuel Payment, so long as (1) the eligibility threshold is just, fair, and, in all circumstances, reasonable, and (2) the administrative costs of doing so don’t outweigh the value of the payments which would have otherwise been made.

In terms of the government’s Winter Fuel Payment proposal, we believe that the threshold for eligibility is too restrictive, and does not appropriately protect a certain type of financially vulnerable pensioner. It is therefore not just, fair, and reasonable, and fails to satisfy the legitimate purpose of means testing.

According to the government’s proposal, pensioners who do not qualify for pension credit or other prescribed benefits will not receive the £200/300 Winter Fuel Payment, while also not receiving the £300 Cost of Living Payment which they had done in the past two winters.

As a result, pensioners who are ‘just getting by’ without requiring state benefits will have £600 less to pay their bills than they did in prior years. This is a significant amount amidst the ongoing effects of the cost-of-living crisis which continue to pressure household finances.

Too often, those who are just out-with the scope of benefit eligibility are overlooked and receive no financial assistance from the state when they are actually in dire need of it. Pensioners who fall into that category will be hard hit by the proposed Winter Fuel Payment means test criterion.

The government should, insofar as it is possible, avoid filling the ‘black hole’ in public finances by withholding vital support from those who need it, and many of those who fall out with the scope of the current Winter Fuel Payment means test proposal can be appropriately described as in ‘need’ of it.

Today on Twitter, we said that socially conscious MPs must vote against the government for the above reasons, and show that they wish for the policy to be reconsidered. Only one current member of the parliamentary Labour party did so.