Labour's decision to start means testing the winter fuel payment have left Scots pensioners with "real worry" over their heating bills this winter, campaigners have said.
From this autumn, those not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will not receive the payment of between £100 and £300 in England and Wales.
The Scottish Government said it had "no choice" but to follow suit as treasury funding for the Scottish benefit had been cut by between £140m and £160m.
Unite will try to force a vote on reversing the cuts at Labour's conference in Liverpool, as it urges the government against "turning back to failed austerity".
Read More:
-
Scottish Labour's poll rating plummets but Anas Sarwar still set to be next FM
-
Starmer and DWP at odds over assessment on winter fuel cut as tensions grow
-
Pensioners face ‘brutal’ winter after fuel payment vote, says leading charity
On Friday a group from the trade union took part in a protest against the cuts on Irvine beach in North Ayrshire.
Artists Veronika Liebscher and Richard Leat created a piece of art on the sand with the words "winter fuel allowance £200".
As crowds gathered and representatives made speeches, the words were slowly washed away by the incoming tide.
Alongside Unite members were members of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), the group seeking compensation for millions of women who lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances when the pension age for women rose from 60 to 65.
The group says its members have already been negatively impacted by that change, and now face losing their winter fuel allowance on top as they urged Mr Starmer to pay compensation and not to take it from the winter fuel budget.
Explaining the art work, Ms Liebscher said: "We've got this fabulous beach here, so why not use it?
"The tide is an excellent analogy for something that is rushing in against us and is difficult to stop.
"The winter fuel allowance is important in giving people a top-up that they need, taking it away in the manner they are means there will be a lot of people who are on that edge and still need it.
"The right thing to do is not necessarily to reinstate the allowance for everybody but something has to be done when there are so many people who can't pay for their fuel.
"Whether that's doing it at one end, giving people money to pay for their fuel, or at the other end with restricting prices - something needs to be done."
Mr Leat said: "You've got to think about the number of people who don't take up benefits to which they're entitled, and if they then start taking those up then any savings are going to be reduced tremendously - probably to nothing."
Arthur West, Unite community member and secretary of the Irvine and North Ayrshire Trade Union Council said: "This is going to present real problems in many pensioner households.
"It goes without saying that in Scotland, unfortunately, we do have colder weather it gets a bit bracing at times so it'll have a real impact.
"Many people will be struggling to pay their energy bills and that will be a worry and a pressure, and there's the cost-of-living pressure overall - there's a real worry about what this winter will bring."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel