Unite is pushing ahead with legal action against the government in a bid to overturn winter fuel cuts for millions of pensioners.Unite claims the government did not follow correct procedure and has instructed lawyers who are asking the High Court for an urgent judicial review of the government’s decision to restrict payments to poorer pensioners.The policy, announced in July, has attracted criticism, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying it was intended to help plug a £22bn hole in public finances.Sharon Graham, Unite’s General Secretary, told the BBC “picking the pockets of pensioners is wrong at every level”.An estimated 10 million pensioners will lose the winter fuel payment, worth between £100 and £300. The benefit will still be paid to those who receive pension credit or other means-tested help. Among those are 200,000 Unite members, and the union says it is acting on behalf retired members struggling to get by.Many of them have modest private pensions which makes them ineligible for Pension Credit – and therefore ineligible for winter fuel payments – Unite said.Juliet Jeater is one of them is one of 11 Unite members who have joined union in the legal action.She told the BBC she believed the pension credit threshold was too low and to qualify for it “you truly have to be on the breadline”.Jeater, a retired teacher in her 70 who lives in a Northamptonshire village, said she needed the winter fuel payment to pay for heating her cottage.In the recent cold snap, she was given scrap wood from a neighbour, who is a scaffolder, to heat her home.A former Labour member, Jeater said she w …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnUnite is pushing ahead with legal action against the government in a bid to overturn winter fuel cuts for millions of pensioners.Unite claims the government did not follow correct procedure and has instructed lawyers who are asking the High Court for an urgent judicial review of the government’s decision to restrict payments to poorer pensioners.The policy, announced in July, has attracted criticism, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying it was intended to help plug a £22bn hole in public finances.Sharon Graham, Unite’s General Secretary, told the BBC “picking the pockets of pensioners is wrong at every level”.An estimated 10 million pensioners will lose the winter fuel payment, worth between £100 and £300. The benefit will still be paid to those who receive pension credit or other means-tested help. Among those are 200,000 Unite members, and the union says it is acting on behalf retired members struggling to get by.Many of them have modest private pensions which makes them ineligible for Pension Credit – and therefore ineligible for winter fuel payments – Unite said.Juliet Jeater is one of them is one of 11 Unite members who have joined union in the legal action.She told the BBC she believed the pension credit threshold was too low and to qualify for it “you truly have to be on the breadline”.Jeater, a retired teacher in her 70 who lives in a Northamptonshire village, said she needed the winter fuel payment to pay for heating her cottage.In the recent cold snap, she was given scrap wood from a neighbour, who is a scaffolder, to heat her home.A former Labour member, Jeater said she w …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
