Many pensioners can’t afford to lose the winter fuel allowance

‘My mother broke down in tears on Monday worrying about how she is going to afford the heating this winter.’ Photograph: Rosemary Roberts/Alamy

I led the UK national campaign that led to the adoption by the Blair government of the winter fuel payments system. The problem the campaign addressed was the annual 40,000 excess winter deaths among people affected by fuel poverty. The response – a universal rather than a targeted payment – was adopted because of the low take-up of pension credits and other benefits by many of those at risk; this take-up failure stands at 800,000 non-applicants today.

In restricting the payment to recipients of pension credits (Up to 2m pensioners will struggle without winter fuel help, say campaigners, 29 July, the chancellor acknowledges that take-up is a problem and has proposed that local authorities should be responsible for ensuring that everyone eligible receives the benefit. However, it is difficult to see how hard-pressed councils, which are not responsible for allocating pension credits, will be able to do more to bridge this gap.