Almost 2,000 pensioners in Bath could be missing out on cold weather payments this winter due to the government’s complicated system.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, which goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7m pensioner nationally.

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats estimates that 1,955 of eligible Bath pensioners were not claiming Pension Credit in 2007/8 (the most recent year figures are available). Thus, they would not be receiving the Cold Weather Payment.

Bath’s Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster said,

Fuel prices are at an all time high, making Cold Weather Payments all the more important to people already struggling on a poverty pension. Labour has failed pensioners by creating a complicated system that makes it difficult for them to get the help they desperately need.

The Government should be making every effort to identify pensioners who are missing out and get them this extra cash.