All pensioners in Scotland qualify for winter fuel payment from Scottish Government

The Scottish Government announced it would introduce a new pension-age winter heating payment for almost 900,000 pensioners in winter 2025/26.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville confirmed all pensioners regardless of their income would receive £100 to help heat their homes.

Those in receipt of benefits such as pension credit will get £200 or £300 depending on their age.

The social justice secretary also said the Government would spend £41 million this winter to help people who are struggling with energy costs, as well as an extra £20m for the Scottish welfare fund.

On top of this, £20m will be invested into the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, which ministers say will save the average household around £300 a year in energy bills, and make £1m available to registered social landlords to help sustain tenancies and prevent homelessness.

But Ms Somerville did not confirm exactly where the money would come for to fund the commitments. She said more detail on how the payment would be funded would be announced by Finance Secretary Shona Robison when she sets out the 2025/26 Scottish Budget next week.

It comes after UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the summer that she was cutting universal winter fuel payments in a bid to plug a £22 billion black hole in the public finances, with the Scottish Government initially following suit.

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The announcement by Ms Somerville was hailed by Age Scotland chief executive Katherine Crawford, who described the decision as "fantastic” following what she described as the UK government’s “disastrous” benefits cut.

Ms Crawford said: “It would have been absolutely fantastic to be in a position to reinstate the full winter fuel payment for pensioners in Scotland as of now, but we do appreciate that logistically that would just have not been possible."

Andrew Bartlett, chief executive of Advice Direct Scotland, said: “It is welcome that ministers are taking action to help pensioners in Scotland pay their energy bills with this new benefit.

“However, it will not begin until next year, which means thousands of people are still facing the terrible reality of another winter where they must choose between putting the heating on and having a hot meal. The best long-term solution to this intolerable situation lies in a UK-wide social energy tariff, which would go some way to fixing the country’s energy market and lifting people out of fuel poverty."

But Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for social security Liz Smith described it as “shameless spin from the SNP”.

“Despite trying to talk this decision up to pensioners, the reality is that this will be a cut for many of them and help still won’t be coming this winter,” she said. “SNP ministers are trying to hoodwink people into believing they are on their side when they haven’t delivered the support they need.

“They would like them to forget that they were prepared to shamefully follow Labour’s lead, and shouldn’t be acting like they have delivered an early Christmas present for pensioners.”

The benefit is being devolved to Holyrood for the first time this year. However, the SNP originally said it was forced to follow suit as the funding coming to Scotland for this payment was also being cut.

It means the Scottish Government will only be receiving around £41m in the bloc grant from Westminster to fund this payment.

Around 130,000 pensioners who receive pension credit in Scotland will continue to get the highest level of a £300 winter fuel payment, separately from the new payment that has been announced by the Scottish Government.

The announcement made on Thursday comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he would reinstate the winter fuel payment if he wins the 2026 Holyrood election, despite his own MPs voting through the cut in Westminster.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Somerville said: “The measures I have announced today will go some way to allay the fears of pensioners in Scotland ahead of next winter, but the Scottish Government recognises that more must be done.

“Ahead of next winter, I will bring forward regulations to introduce universal pension age winter heating payments in winter 2025/26 for Scottish pensioners.

“This universal benefit – providing much needed support not available anywhere else in the UK – will deliver support for all pensioner households as we had always intended to do before the UK government decision to means test winter fuel payment cut the funding available to support our new benefit in Scotland this winter by £147m.

“We will not abandon older people this winter or any winter. We will do our best to make sure no-one has to make a decision between heating and eating, and we will continue to protect pensioners.”

The social justice secretary sparred following the statement with Labour social justice spokesman Paul O’Kane, who asked if the increase in spending coming to Scotland through the Barnett formula as a result of UK government decisions had allowed the change.

Mr O’Kane suggested the £41m support package for this financial year was equal to the financial boost coming to Holyrood through an increase in Treasury spending on the UK Household Support Fund.

Ms Somerville responded by saying: “I think as well as asking some questions, which he is obviously right to do, Mr O’Kane and his party should come here with a bit of humility and a bit of an apology for Scotland’s pensioners for putting us in this position in the first place.”

The announcement was also somewhat marred by the leaking of details of the scheme to the press, with reports first emerging on Thursday morning – hours before Ms Somerville addressed the Scottish Parliament.

As a result, Ms Somerville apologised to Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, who cut the statement short to allow more time for MSPs to question the minister.

The announcement was delivered as one of Britain’s major trade unions separately launched legal action against the UK government over the Chancellor’s decision to means test winter fuel payments.

Unite claimed the government did not follow the correct procedure in making the decision. The union had threatened legal action earlier this month and announced on Thursday that it had applied to the High Court for leave to proceed with a full judicial review after receiving an “unsatisfactory” response to its demand the government reverse its decision.

Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “Labour’s decision to pick the pocket of pensioners was wrong on every level. The government has been given every opportunity to reverse its decision and it has failed to do so.

“This is a rushed, ill-thought-out policy and the government clearly failed to follow the proper legal measures before executing it. With winter approaching, the courts must now hold the government to account and reverse this cruel cut as quickly as possible.”

The union said it hoped the court would grant an urgent hearing on its case in the context of “worsening weather conditions and dropping temperatures”.

In its pre-action letter, the union said it believed the government had breached its legal duties by not referring the cut to the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and by failing to consider the impact on disabled people, among other grounds.

Ministers are not required to refer regulations on benefits to the SSAC if they are a matter of “urgency”, something the government relied on when implementing the winter fuel cut.

The government also conducted an “equalities analysis”, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act, but has been criticised for not carrying out a full impact assessment of the policy.

The bid for a judicial review will further strain relations between the government and Unite, which has been one of Labour’s main donors, but grown increasingly distant from the party since Sir Keir Starmer became leader.

The government was unable to comment on ongoing legal cases, but a spokesperson said it was “committed to supporting pensioners” and urged people to check if they were eligible for pension credit.