THE debate around winter heating support for pensioners is “nuts”, according to the head of a leading progressive think tank.
Stephen Boyd, the director of the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR) Scotland, said the SNP’s decision to replace the Winter Fuel Payment was not “coherent”.
The issue has become a political football after Labour abolished the universal benefit in a Westminster vote earlier this year.
The party has made it means-tested and only available to the worst-off pensioners, including those receiving pension credit.
But the SNP have announced a replacement universal scheme in Scotland.
Speaking before Tuesday’s failed bid by Scottish Labour to force the SNP to adopt their replacement scheme over the Scottish Government’s plans, Boyd said he found it “odd” the topic had become so politically contentious.
He told The National: “I think the whole episode around the Winter Fuel Payment has kind of shown us how government is not thinking through issues round about tax and spend in a coherent fashion.”
Its value was “never increased” after being introduced in 1997, said Boyd.
He added: “All the time you didn’t politicians complaining about the fall in the real value of the Winter Fuel Payment, as soon as it was abolished they all went nuts. This is kind of odd.”
It was “really disappointing” that the Scottish Government appeared to have failed to conduct “any proper analysis” of the impact of reinstating the universal policy, which will be less for wealthy pensioners and more for the poorest.
However, the Scottish Government’s replacement scheme – which will be included in the Budget this week – will not come into place until next winter.
The IPPR Scotland director argued the benefit was a bad example of a universal benefit, saying he was not convinced it worked as a way to combat poverty, and suggested the money would have been better spent on boosting the Scottish Child Payment or investment in social housing.
Boyd said: “I can understand the political salience of the issue, I can understand why they would want to do something in that area, but I think we would all be much more comfortable if we knew there had been a proper analysis done about where that spending would have most impact.”
He added: “You really need to think through: Could that money have been better spent on the Scottish Child Payment, for instance? Could it have been better spent on social housing? All these areas where it would have a real, tangible impact on poverty reduction.”
SNP MSP Collette Stevenson said: “The announcement of new support for pensioners by the SNP Scottish Government righted a disgraceful wrong by the UK Labour Government, ensuring that Scotland’s pensioners are supported at a time when energy bills continue to soar despite Labour's promise to bring bills down.
"The SNP has made tackling child poverty one of its priorities and due to SNP policies, including the Scottish Child Payment, it is estimated that 100,000 children will be kept out of poverty this year and child poverty rates in Scotland remain lower than those across the rest of the UK."
The Scottish Labour were approached for comment.
