• Skip Navigation
• Help |
• Contact us |
• Access keys |
• Site map |
• A-Z

• Home 
• Budget 
• Pre-Budget Report  
• • Pre-Budget Report 2009  
  • Pre-Budget Report 2008  
  • 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review  
  • Pre-Budget 2006  
  • Pre-Budget 2005  
  • Pre-Budget 2004  
  • Pre-Budget 2003  
  • Pre-Budget 2002  
  • Pre-Budget 2001  
  • Pre-Budget 2000  
  • Pre-Budget 1999  
  • Pre-Budget 1998  
  • Pre-Budget 1997  
• Spending Review 

• Newsroom & speeches 
• Economic data & tools 
• Consultations & legislation 
• Independent reviews 

• Enterprise & productivity 
• Financial services 
• International issues 
• Public private partnerships 
• Public spending & reporting 
• Taxation, work and welfare 
• UK economy 
• The Euro 
• Invest to save budget (ISB) 

• About us 
• Careers 
• Other HMT sites 

Treasury 5

25 November 1997

HMT 5: Extra help towards pensioner heating costs

Pensioners are set to receive extra help this year and next with winter fuel bills, announced Chancellor Gordon Brown in his Pre- Budget report today. All pensioner households will receive a payment of 20 Pounds while pensioner households receiving Income Support will receive a 50 Pounds payment to help with winter fuel bills. The payments will be made as soon as possible and will cost 190 million Pounds a year, for the next two years.

The Chancellor also announced a series of pilot projects to identify the best way of providing more automatic help to pensioners not receiving their Income Support entitlement.

The Chancellor said:

"By next year, every pensioner household will see the benefits of lower VAT on fuel, the abolition of the gas levy, and now the Government's new payment to help with winter fuel bills. The average pensioner's fuel bill will be nearly 100 Pounds a year lower as a result; poorer pensioner households on Income Support will gain nearly 130 Pounds a year."

In addition, a number of pilot projects will start next year to identify the best ways of providing more automatic help to the estimated one million pensioners not currently receiving the Income Support to which they are entitled. The Government will then consider how best to deliver more automatic help on a national basis.

Notes for editors

1. Average pensioner fuel bills are 612 Pounds a year, or 11.80 Pounds per week. The average pensioner household spends 6.7 per cent of their income on fuel, compared with 4.5 per cent for average households.
2. There are 11 million pensioners, living in 7 million households. 1.7 million of these pensioner households receive Income Support. So 1.7 million households will receive an extra 50 Pounds and the other 5.3 million will receive 20 Pounds.

HM Treasury press office

Press enquiries to: 0207 270 5238
Non-media enquiries to: 0207 270 4860/4870/4880

Pre Budget 1997 Press Notices index page

• Terms & conditions
• RSS Feed
• 
•