DWP boss divulges vast scale of pensioner poverty baked into Labour policy

Poverty among older Brits will increase massively by the end of the decade, with tens of thousands more pensioners falling into hardship every year due to cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment, the head of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted.

The new Labour government announced the sweeping cut to the previously universal pensioners' benefit in July, as part of a package of measures to address what it described as a "£22 billion black hole" left by 14 years of Conservative rule. The move is forecast to save £1.4bn per year from this winter, with only those claiming Pension Credit receiving the payment, which is worth between £200 and £300.

Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, admitted that the DWP's own internal forecasts on the impact of means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment shockingly predicted 300,000 pensioners would fall into relative poverty, after housing costs, due to the change. However, in a letter to the Work and Pensions Committee revealing the previously unknown sum, Kendall said this number had lowered to 200,000 - with 50,000 more pensioners slipping into poverty each year by 2029 as a direct result of the policy.

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The admission from the DWP boss appears to contradict public statements that there were no such estimates for the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment. On Tuesday, BBC's Newsnight reported that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had said in September: "There isn't a report on my desk which somehow we're not showing. I know you think there is a report on my desk, but there isn't one."

Due to the change in Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, only those who qualify for Pension Credit