Pensioners in Northern Ireland, reeling from cuts to their winter fuel support, are set to receive a one-off payment from Stormont in the coming weeks, according to details revealed at a recent committee hearing. The scheme will offer a payment of £100 to single pensioners living alone, while in households with more than one eligible pensioner, each will receive £50, reported ITV.
Officials from the Department for Communities are confident that the payments will be processed and deposited directly into bank accounts before the end of March. This initiative comes in the wake of a policy change by the Labour government last year, which saw approximately 249,000 pensioners lose their entitlement to the winter fuel support payment. The previous arrangement, which provided amounts ranging from £200 to £300, was curtailed to only include those pensioners receiving certain benefits.
Stormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons first announced the one-off payment in November, securing £17 million from an in-year monitoring fund to help mitigate the impact of the cuts. The new Pension Age Fuel Support Payment Scheme is designed to provide financial relief to those adversely affected by the reduction in support.
Speaking at the Stormont Communities Committee on Thursday morning, David Tarr estimated that the total value of the payments would be around £18 million, a figure that does not take into account the additional costs for administration and IT. Tarr’s comments underscored the urgency and scale of the initiative, reflecting the government’s commitment to assist the most vulnerable in the community.
Conrad McConnell, involved in the implementation of the scheme, stated, “There are an estimated 179,000 households in Northern Ireland expected to receive this payment.” He added, “We started worked immediately once the announcement was made to put in all the necessary IT and logistical arrangements to ensure the issuing of the payments before the end of March.”
“We have a dedicated team in place which meets weekly and works on this every day to make this happen on time. There are lots of strands involved in this work. But despite all the complexity across all the various strands of work … we are on track to have the payment paid before the end of March 2025.”
Committee chair Colm Gildernew welcomed the measure, describing it as a positive step to counter what he called the “disgraceful” cut imposed by the government. The one-off payment is seen as a crucial move to restore some financial stability to pensioners who have been significantly impacted by the austerity measures, and it underscores Stormont’s efforts to address widespread public concern over the rising cost of living in Northern Ireland.
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