- Conference
- 2025 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 13 June 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the removal of Winter Fuel Allowance for most pensioners has had the detrimental impacts that UNISON and campaigns supporting pensioners had warned it would.
It has also proved to be a gift from Keir Starmer’s government to Nigel Farage and Reform UK who have been able to falsely pose as the friend of pensioners, helping to boost their popularity.
We note that Starmer has signalled some level of retreat from the policy, possibly in the Autumn budget due this October. However, it appears clear that he intends to continue with the removal of Winter Fuel Allowance as a universal benefit. Conference reiterates our belief that certain universal benefits, such as Retirement Pension, are one of the cornerstones of the concept of the welfare state. We continue to reject the narrative of “hard choices” while this government makes choices to attack benefits for many of the most vulnerable whilst not taking adequate measures to apply fair taxation measures to the super rich, whose wealth has continued to grow disproportionately whilst living standards for the majority have fallen. We note that many pensioners are also facing a growing tax burden due to the failure of tax thresholds to be increased in line with inflation.
We call on the National Retired Members Committee to continue to work with the NEC to demand the reinstatement of the Winter Fuel Allowance in full, and to continue to work with appropriate campaigns supported by UNISON, including appropriate protests, lobbies etc, in the run up to the Autumn budget to build pressure on the government to achieve this.