More to get winter fuel cash but not everyone

MORE pensioners will receive the winter fuel allowance this winter - but payments will not be universal, the Government has revealed.

- 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters: “People should be in no doubt that the means test will increase and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter.”

Ms Reeves said that further details will be announced “as soon as we possibly can”.

She added: “We will set out how everything will be paid for at the budget in the autumn but it’s important that everything that we do is funded, because that's how people know that we can afford it.”

Meanwhile, pensions minister Torsten Bell told MPs that, while more pensioners will be eligible, there is no prospect of returning to universal payments.