Pensioners launch legal challenge against winter fuel payment cut

Two pensioners have launched a legal bid to force the UK and Scottish governments to reverse the planned cut to the winter fuel payments.

Peter and Florence Fanning from Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire have raised proceedings with the help of the Govan Law Centre against the Scottish Government and the UK work and pensions secretary over the policy.

Rachel Reeves announced last month that only pensioners in receipt of pension credit or another means-tested benefit will receive the formerly universal benefit.

The Scottish Government later cut the winter fuel payment in Scotland, saying funding from the UK Government was scrapped due to the chancellor’s decision.

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The judicial review now requires a judge’s approval to move to a hearing on the merits, with the Govan Law Centre seeking to expedite both the case and its application for legal aid to ensure a decision can be handed down before the winter.

The case will be heard before the Court of Session – the highest court in Scotland.

The case asks the court to rule on whether the decision was unlawful, which would then allow the petitioners to ask the court to, in effect, set aside the policy and restore the winter fuel payment to all.

‘We are really going to suffer this winter’

Speaking to STV News in Edinburgh, 73-year-old Peter Fanning said: “I think this winter is looking bleak because [the cut] has come out the blue.

“Normally we’d have an opportunity to save for things like Christmas or whatever and we wouldn’t worry as much about the winter fuel bill but because it’s been taken off so quickly and so disastrously for us we are really going to suffer this winter and I think it’s going to affect my health.

“I’m anaemic, I have heart problems and I’m also asthmatic so coldness affects me badly and affects my bones.

“My blood doesn’t circulate right and I don’t make red blood cells so I do get cold very easily and in the winter it’s more so.

“So if I don’t heat my house I have to put on my bed socks, put the hot water bottle in and go to my bed.

“I don’t think that’s a good quality of life for anybody.”

Peter’s wife Florence added: “I don’t have any savings. Peter is the only one that had savings. And the way the energy bills going up, what we’re paying monthly, it’s just not on.”

Peter said it wasn’t just energy costs that were going up.

“I think it’s the knock-on effect,” he said. “You’ve got the energy bills, you’ve got everything going up, you’ve got petrol going up. We’ve got to use a car to get about because of where we reside.

“And Florence is diabetic so we’ve got to buy particular stuff for Florence as well.

“It’s that whole knock-on effect and then for nobody to assess what our needs were for the future but just say no you’re not getting that.

“And I know there are people worse off than me and it’s for those people we are putting this fight up.

“Not only for ourselves, we are not just being selfish, it’s not we just want money but we want justice for the people of Scotland, for people all over Britain, who haven’t had the opportunity to discuss what their needs are.”

Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street

The case’s argument rests on the accusation both governments failed to adequately consult with those of pension age on the change and did not release an equality impact assessment on the changes.

A freedom of information request revealed an abridged version of such an assessment had been carried out by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), with the UK Government arguing a full study was not required.

Former first minister and current Alba Party leader Alex Salmond was instrumental in putting the Fannings in touch with the Govan Law Centre ahead of the action being raised.

‘Scottish Government should have stood up for pensioners’

Speaking at the press conference on Thursday, Salmond said every person in Scotland “should be grateful” to the Fannings for raising the action, which he said should have been taken forward by the Scottish Government in the first instance.

Pointing to analysis by the Labour Party in 2017 – which suggested 4,000 people could die if the winter fuel payment was cut – Salmond claimed it would be “reprehensible” for the UK Government not to undertake an equality impact assessment because such a figure would be made public.

He added: “The Scottish Government, instead of meekly accepting this, should have challenged it.

“They should have stood up for pensioners and stood up for the people as opposed to meekly towing the line that was coming from Westminster.”

The former first minister added that while it would be “the most enormous humiliation” for the governments to lose the case: “I wonder is that as bad as the humiliation if the health service in Scotland and England can cope with the health impacts of what they’re doing?”

Rachel Moon, the instructing solicitor and a partner at Govan Law Centre, said: “Quite simply, (government) should have considered this rigorously.

“This policy and the decisions taken affect those with protected characteristics, including age and disability, and it affects 10 million people.”

Speaking to journalists after FMQs on Thursday, John Swinney defended his decision to axe winter fuel payments for most pensioners, saying he was legally obliged to balance Scotland’s budget.

He said: “I understand the depth of concern that’s been expressed by members of the public about the abrupt decision to remove £160m from our budget and to take away the universal winter fuel heating payments.

“I would much rather we were in a position to deliver these payments on a universal basis but the hard reality I have to face is that that has been removed abruptly from our budget and we have to take action to live within the financial resources available to me because, on the question of the law, I am bound by law to balance the budget and live within the means available to the government.”

He added that the chancellor’s decision to scrap winter fuel payments for most pensioners was “foolish”.

A spokesperson for the UK Government said: “We are committed to supporting pensioners – with millions set to see their full new State Pension rise by £1,700 this parliament through our commitment to the triple lock.

“Given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right we target support to those who need it most. Over a million pensioners will still receive the Winter Fuel Payment, while many others will also benefit from the £150 Warm Home Discount to help with their energy bills over winter.”

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