“My extra £2.60 leaves me £500 a month worse off’

A retired office worker has said that having £2.60 a week more than the pension credit cap left him £500 a month worse off.

Arthur Bowling, from Waterloo on Merseyside, said the small excess above the £218 a week limit meant he had a large amount to pay towards his rent.

And the 65-year-old said losing his winter fuel payment of up to £300 left him afraid for his health.

The government has said means testing the winter fuel payments could help reduce a £22bn “black hole” in the country’s finances.

Mr Bowling, who said he was in intensive care with Covid-19 for a month during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m afraid for others and I’m afraid for myself.

“After spending so long in hospital I need the warmth and now I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get through the next few months.”

He said he had been relying on the winter fuel payment to help him in the coming months, but was now dreading the change in the weather and was uncertain how he would stay warm.

He added he was “not one of these supposedly rich pensioners” and felt like the government was telling him it would only help him when he was left with nothing.

About 10 million of the current 11.5 million people receiving the payments are expected to stop receiving them when the means test is introduced.

But the government said about 780,000 pensioners in England and Wales will lose it because they are not expected to apply for the benefits that would make them eligible for it.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates were released under freedom of information laws on Friday.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the decision in July.

The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, says it could help plug the £22bn “black hole” he said existed in the national finances, but the Tories and charities have expressed fears it could leave some over-65s cold this winter.