Winter fuel: 780,000 UK pensioners entitled to payment will lose it

From this winter, only pensioners who are entitled to receive pension credit or certain other benefits will continue to receive the winter fuel allowance. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

About 780,000 pensioners who need the winter fuel payment will lose out on it when Labour begins means-testing the benefit, according to the government’s own equality analysis.

After the government was criticised for not carrying out a full impact assessment of the change, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) quietly released a document on Friday night which predicted that about 780,000 pensioners whose low incomes mean they are eligible for the payment will stop getting it when it becomes means-tested.