Winter heating payment of at least £100 for every pensioner household

“What criteria did the Scottish Government use to make the policy decision that, obviously, does not reinstate the previous payment?

“Secondly, even if it disagreed with the previous criteria, did the Scottish Government give any consideration to whether the winter heating payment should include extra support for extreme weather situations?”

Shirley-Anne Somerville, an energy meter and Liz Smith.

Shirley-Anne Somerville batted the question away: “I am a bit confused about the principles behind where the Scottish Conservatives want to go on social security. In budget debates and in First Minister’s question time, we are continually challenged to cut social security expenditure, but Liz Smith seems now to be asking me to spend more money than we are already providing to a scheme.

“If Liz Smith genuinely wishes to do that, budget negotiations are continuing, so she can explain to me and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government where the money would come from to deliver that.

“Previously, we have gone over in great detail the details of the pension-age winter heating payment, and I am very pleased that the Scottish Government will reintroduce a universal winter heating payment for all pensioner households. That is exactly what people would expect their Government to do.

“Given her questions about overall winter heating payments for those on low incomes, I take it, again, that Liz Smith thinks that we should be doing more than we are already doing and therefore spending more on social security. “

“The UK Government’s cold weather payment previously provided £25 per cold spell, only when the average of the mean daily temperature recorded was equal to, or below, 0°C for seven consecutive days—an entire week.

“That benchmark is, of course, totally arbitrary, because temperatures are measured at weather stations that are often miles from people’s homes, and it fails to take into account other factors, such as wind chill and driving rain, that can have a major impact on the temperature of people’s homes—particularly those of people who are on low incomes.

“Their reliance on an arbitrary and arcane definition of what is cold and what is not meant that, in winter 2021-22, absolutely no payments were made—not a single one.

“Importantly, when planning our winter heating payment, we listened carefully to feedback from our public consultation and our social security experience panels, as we do with all our benefits, which we co-design with the people who will receive them. That is a marked difference between our approach and that of the UK Government.

“People told us that they overwhelmingly supported removal of the cold-spell requirement. Age UK similarly supported that, and it has called on the UK Government to remove it. That is why our winter heating payment breaks the link with an arbitrarily-defined weather dependency and provides financial support no matter the weather, so that low-income households are paid automatically and know that they will be paid, rather than having the uncertainty of waiting for weather readings on seven consecutive days before they receive a payment.

“Because of the cold-spell requirement, as few as 4,000 people received a payment in 2019-20 and just 11,000 got one in 2021-22. In sharp contrast, when our winter heating payment was launched in 2022-23, the total number of people who received it was 398,240. Official statistics show that more than 453,000 people got winter heating payments from the Scottish Government last winter, thanks to an investment of £25 million.

“This winter, we will invest even more—£26.8 million—in winter heating payments, which more than triples the £8.5 million that was provided on average by the DWP in each of the seven years before the introduction of our payment.

“As of 15 December 2024, more than 218,000 winter heating payments had been made to people this winter, totalling £12.8 million, with the remaining payments due to be completed by the end of next month. In recognition of the current pressures on household budgets, winter heating payment was uprated by 10.1 per cent for winter 2023-24, from £50 to £55.05, and by a further 6.7 per cent for this winter, to £58.75.

Eligibility for winter heating payment is linked to receipt of relevant reserved benefits, such as universal credit and pension credit. Although Scottish ministers have no formal role in the administration of reserved benefits, the Scottish Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that Scottish people are supported to take up the benefits that they are entitled to. We have committed to investing more than £12 million in the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice services in 2024-25, including support for the Citizens Advice Scotland money talk team service, which last year supported more than 9,000 older people as part of our co-ordinated benefit take-up strategy.

“Of course, winter heating payment is not the only form of support that the Scottish Government provides to help people to meet their heating costs. In November, I announced that the Scottish Government would invest a further £20 million in the Scottish welfare fund’s budget, to be distributed to councils in the current financial year in line with the existing distribution arrangements that have been agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. That increase will help councils to meet increased demands on the fund and will go some way towards providing vital support to people who are in crisis.

“I also confirmed that we would invest an additional £20 million in the warmer homes Scotland scheme, which is our national fuel poverty scheme, taking the total investment in the scheme to £85 million in the current financial year.

“The scheme focuses on long-term, sustainable measures, and that additional funding will help approximately 1,500 additional households to install energy efficiency measures and more efficient heating systems, which will save households about £400 per year on average in energy bills.

Most important, I announced in November that I will bring forward regulations to introduce in winter 2025-26 a universal pension-age winter heating payment of at least £100 for every Scottish pensioner household, with those in receipt of a relevant low-income benefit receiving £200 or £300 depending on their age.

“That universal benefit will provide much-needed support that is not available anywhere else in the UK. It will deliver support to all Scottish pensioner households, as we always intended to do before the UK Government’s decision to cut the winter fuel payment.

“We are also continuing our child winter heating payment, which, last year, provided £7.8 million to support more than 33,000 children, young people and their families who had higher energy needs due to disability or a health condition. That benefit is not available elsewhere in the UK.

In total, this winter, we are forecasted to invest more than £65 million in our three winter heating benefits, which will provide vital support with energy bills to more than 630,000 people. All those programmes provide valuable support with energy bills to people across Scotland but, we all recognise that households across the country acutely feel twin pressures: first, cuts to the social security budgets that have been made over many years by successive UK Governments—Conservative and now Labour—and, secondly, rising energy costs, despite Labour’s promise before the election that people’s energy bills would fall if it was in government; of course, those bills are set to rise again this month.

“Already, this year alone, the Scottish Government has spent £134 million on mitigating the effects of UK Government welfare decisions. In doing so, we are working closely with our partners in local government across Scotland to support people who are in crisis.

Although we cannot mitigate every decision that is made by the UK Government, we are determined to provide support for the people of Scotland. Our winter heating payment is just one example of how we are using our devolved powers to make a positive difference and to support the people of Scotland with their rising energy costs.

“It is reliable, guaranteed, not dependent on arbitrary temperature readings, and designed in partnership with the people who are receiving it—and it provides support to more than double the number of people who previously got help under the DWP.

“Our winter heating payment is a very clear example of how the Scottish Government is doing more to support the people of Scotland through the long cold winter months.”