MSE News: Winter Fuel Payments could be reinstated for all pensioners if legal challenge succeeds

HillStreetBlues

Xbigman said:

Isn't it being done by statutory instrument because the payments are extra payments from the government and not linked to any specific legislation? Like The CoL payments which came and went, therefore they can be cancelled.

It will be interesting to see the governments defence and the judges decision on this.


Darren

The UK Government will want to defend it much more than than the Scottish Gov as the Scottish Gov didn't want the UK Gov to have the policy. The Scottish Gov could even change sides and support the change is unlawful.
This leaves the UK Gov stating that what was released under a FoI on the 21st Sep was an impact statement, although Starmer has said it wasn't as  it wasn't needed.

Eldi_Dos

HillStreetBlues said:

Xbigman said:

Isn't it being done by statutory instrument because the payments are extra payments from the government and not linked to any specific legislation? Like The CoL payments which came and went, therefore they can be cancelled.

It will be interesting to see the governments defence and the judges decision on this.


Darren

The UK Government will want to defend it much more than than the Scottish Gov as the Scottish Gov didn't want the UK Gov to have the policy. The Scottish Gov could even change sides and support the change is unlawful.
This leaves the UK Gov stating that what was released under a FoI on the 21st Sep was an impact statement, although Starmer has said it wasn't as  it wasn't needed.

Not my reading of the situation.
The Scottish Government Published on the 29th April 2024 the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP) draft regulations 2024 which say the relevant benefit to qualify is state pension credit.

MSE_James

Hi - we'd like to keep this thread open, but please keep any replies focussed on the subject of the original news story, rather than veering into wider political discussions or the rights and wrongs of the original Government decision. 

HillStreetBlues

Eldi_Dos said:

Not my reading of the situation.
The Scottish Government Published on the 29th April 2024 the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP) draft regulations 2024 which say the relevant benefit to qualify is state pension credit.

I stand to be corrected as, but I thought that the actual regs ended up aligning to the same criteria as the UK Gov ones. So up until the UK Gov changed  the rules the Scottish Gov were going to pay it to all pensioners.
I believe this is why the case is against both the Scottish & UK Governments, as if either of them change the rules then Scottish Pensioners will get the WFP (and if they win  against the UK Gov then all UK pensioners will get it).
EDIT: I say "will get it"   it means for 24/25 as I don't believe they can do a further impact study in time.

wrf12345

The dept in NI (!) that deals with it is already starting to inform people who will be getting the WFA so even if they win not sure the dept will have time to deal with it for this winter... and they won't be in a good mood as the govn wants councils to administer it, so you will have a couple of hundred new departments set up over all the councils

Ildhund

HillStreetBlues said:

Eldi_Dos said:

The Scottish Government Published on the 29th April 2024 the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP) draft regulations 2024 ...

I stand to be corrected as, but I thought that the actual regs ended up aligning to the same criteria as the UK Gov ones. So up until the UK Gov changed  the rules the Scottish Gov were going to pay it to all pensioners.

It looks as if it was the other way round. The Scottish Government's draft, published in April, mandated the means test. This is the model the new British government adopted three months later. 

HillStreetBlues

On further reading the info the Gov produced was an equality assessment (EA) basally a breakdown on who (age/ gender, disability etc.) loses the payment.
But it seems they might not have done a  Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and it then doesn't comply with S149 of the EA2010.
It does seem that there is a case to answer, so I do expect it to go to a full hearing unless the Gov either folds beforehand or offers no evidence.

Ildhund

Forgive me for perhaps being a bit dim, but how does this measure discriminate against a group of people by virtue of a protected characteristic? You could claim that anyone not old enough to get a state pension is discriminated against because of his age, but that must be one of the exceptions to blanket coverage. The WFP decision discriminates between groups of otherwise-eligible citizens solely on the basis of their income, which can't be a protected characteristic. Can someone explain the grounds for this suit, if it's for some contravention of equality legislation?  

MP1995

Give it to everyone and lower the 0% tax limit.

Always painful when things are taken away they should have just stealth taxed it out of the books,

Qyburn

Ildhund said:

Forgive me for perhaps being a bit dim, but how does this measure discriminate against a group of people by virtue of a protected characteristic?   

It doesn't. My post pointing this out was zapped from the thread.