WEATHER: OAP slams cold snap payments

CHILLY old folk have been left out in the cold by a system which means payments designed to help cover the cost of extreme weather are only being paid to the poorest households.Furious pensioner Brian Hirst (70) this week slammed Government policy on cold

CHILLY old folk have been left out in the cold by a system which means payments designed to help cover the cost of extreme weather are only being paid to the poorest households.

Furious pensioner Brian Hirst (70) this week slammed Government policy on cold weather payments after discovering that only pensioners on Pension Credits and some people on Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support were entitled to the £25 boost.

After a fortnight of freezing conditions the Bramley granddad believed that he and wife Beryl (67) were set to benefit from the windfall, which is paid automatically after seven consecutive days of sub-zero temperatures.

But a call to the pensions office in Mexborough revealed that he and Beryl did not qualify for the payment because they did not meet the criteria and that just two households in his S66 postcode area had received the payment.

Mr Hirst, of Temple Crescent, has written to Wentworth MP and housing minister John Healey to complain, insisting that cold weather payments should apply to all pensioners, on top of the annual £250 winter fuel allowance.

"Child benefit and MPs' expenses are not means tested but they have decided to means-test the cold weather payments," he said.

"It makes me feel very angry that senior citizens who have lived here all their lives and paid taxes are being treated in such a disrespectful manner."

Mr Hirst, a retired careers adviser, added: "If it were not for my grandchildren I would not be bothered about still being around.

"I feel totally ignored. No-one wants to know about elderly people."

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions confirmed that cold weather payments were paid automatically to those on on Pension Credits, Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "The Government has spent around £243 million nationally on cold weather payments so far this winter, with 9.7 million payments to 4.2 million recipients."