2.2M PENSIONERS TO LOSE WINTER FUEL HELP

AN extra 200,000 pensioners are set to lose winter fuel payments under the "cruel" Labour plans unveiled in the Budget and the number is expected to rise every year.

- BY JONATHAN WALKER

Documents published quietly on a government website reveal the number about to be denied the lifeline benefit is 2.2 million, significantly higher than previously announced, and pension experts warn it will only go up.

The Treasury said in June that two million older people would lose winter fuel payments of up to £300 after a decision to strip them from people with income of £35,000 or more.

Impact analysis published by the government, alongside Rachel Reeves' Budget, now shows the true figure is 2.2 million.

Treasury documents also state the £35,000 threshold is fixed until at least 2029, rather than rising with inflation.

It means more pensioners will be caught in the means-testing trap every year simply because of the annual rise in the state pension.

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, partner at pension consultants LCP, said: "Another stealthy freeze in the tax system is the £35,000 cutoff for entitlement to winter fuel payments.

"This was not increased in the Budget and it seems highly likely that it will remain frozen for the foreseeable future.