Winter Fuel Payments expansion this winter: comment

"Changing eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment will be welcomed by those struggling the most with bills which are still running high years after Russia invaded Ukraine, pushing up gas costs. This crisis wouldn’t have been so bad for those who struggled the most, had we not cut investment in improving our homes over the last decade which has left them damp, cold and leaking heat leaving people paying over the odds on bills as well as impacting their health. [2] 

"Hundreds of billions of pounds have been spent by tax payers subsidising energy bills during the gas crisis which still isn't over. And until we invest in well-insulated, warmer homes that use less gas, we’ll be vulnerable to volatile markets manipulated by actors like Putin. The Winter Fuel Payment is a sticking plaster solution, but the manifesto pledge of a Warm Homes Plan with boosted funding for home insulation could come in the Spending Review fixing the underlying problem of poor quality, unhealthy homes. [3] So far though the Government’s track record to date has been to delay warmer home standards for private rentals rather than treat the root cause."