FOI/202500468011 · FOI · unclear
Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP) funding and eligibility: FOI release
Information requested
Details of what the £160 million of funding previously planned for universal winter fuel payment for pensions was spent on. This was described as diverted to balance the 2024/25 budget in Audit Scotland’s ‘Fiscal Sustainability and reform in Scotland’ report of November 2024.
Response
We do not recognise the characterisation of this funding as having been diverted.
The Audit Scotland report quoted is from November 2024 and summarises the measures outlined in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s Fiscal Statement to the Scottish Parliament on 3 September 2024 to mitigate the financial pressures faced. The position outlined by the Cabinet Secretary in this statement had already assumed a loss of funding as a consequence of the UK Government’s policy change. The figure of £160 million quoted was an internal estimate of the cost to the Scottish Government if it chose not to replicate the UK Governments measures pending independent forecasts being prepared by the Scottish Fiscal Commission.
The Scottish Government receives funding in the form of a Block Grant Adjustment (BGA) for benefits which are devolved to Scotland. This includes a Block Grant Adjustment for Winter Fuel Payment (‘WFP’), which was devolved in 2024-25 and is delivered as a separate Scottish benefit, known as Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (‘PAWHP’)
The UK Government’s decision to reduce eligibility to the WFP in England and Wales led to a reduction in the WFP BGA. The WFP BGA was reduced from the initial forecast of £178 million at the time the 2024-25 Scottish Budget was set in December 2023, to £32 million, a reduction in funding of £146 million.
In August 2024, following careful consideration of the options available for Scotland, the Scottish Government announced that, given the timing of the UK Government’s decision, the lack of prior consultation with the Scottish Government, and the significant budgetary impact, the Scottish Government would mirror the UK Government’s policy on eligibility for PAWHP. The change in eligibility reduced the cost of providing the benefit from £180 million, as forecast at the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, to a forecast £32 million, a £148 million reduction.
The reduction inf BGA funding and the reduction in forecast costs for PAWHP broadly offset each other. Any marginal difference between the two amounts is considered as part of the wider management of the Scottish Budget rather than specifically allocated. Final outturn for PAWHP will be published as part of the Scottish Government’s annual accounts later this year.
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Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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