Bromley pensioners reaction to cutting winter fuel payments

The annual payment has been relied on by pensioners since its introduction in 1997 and consists of a £200 or £300 sum depending on the recipient’s age.

The controversial decision will reduce the number of payments going out this winter from 11.4 million to 1.5m, with an opposition motion to halt the policy having been rejected by a 120 majority on Tuesday, September 10.

Christine Rixon, 75, has lived in Chislehurst in Bromley borough for the past 26 years with her husband Paul, 76. Ms Rixon said the Winter Fuel Payment has always been a welcomed comfort to the couple until now.

Ms Rixon told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We were disgusted, absolutely disgusted.. He [Keir Starmer] has taken our money away.”

She added: “We will get by. We will just have to be careful, that’s all. You haven’t got that little bit of comfort behind you.”

Data from the Office for National Statistics based on the 2021 census found that the media age in Bromley was 41 years old, representing the joint highest age in a London borough alongside Richmond upon Thames.

The census also found that the number of people aged between 50 and 64 rose by 14.8 per cent in the ten years prior while the number of residents aged between 20 and 24 decreased by 9 per cent in the same period.

David Peek, 86, said he thinks the initiative has been handled ‘appallingly’ by the Government.

He added that he would rather see 10m pensioners still receiving the payments instead of the £1.3 billion of savings the Government estimated it would achieve from reducing the scheme this financial year.

He told the LDRS: “It won’t affect me. I’m fortunate. But if it was my mother, for example, it would have really affected her. She was a poor widow and just had a meagre income and it would have really made a lot of difference to her.”

Sue Boreham, 76, has lived in Forest Hill her entire life. She said that while she is fortunate enough not to be greatly affected by the decision to reduce the scheme, she is not sure that cutting the payment is the best way for the Government to address budget constraints.

Sue Boreham

She told the LDRS: “I think it’s going to be devastating. I know some elderly folk who really do need it. It’s a considerable amount of money, fuel is going up, we are told, in October which is only next month. It’s been a dire summer and it looks like it will be a pretty grim winter so it’s difficult.”

She added: “I can understand how people are extremely angry. It’s a Labour government and the first thing they do is hit elderly people and there are an awful lot of people who will struggle desperately without that extra payment. It bothers me very much.”