The removal of the winter fuel allowance has forced some pensioners to take out credit cards to pay bills (Image: Getty)
Pensioners who lost their £300 after scrapped it for anyone not claiming are now struggling to cope.
Sandra had depended on her and when it became means tested, her pension payments meant she was £20 a week over the limit.
Now she has had to take a credit card and an overdraft just to be able to pay for essentials.
She told the : “I’ve had to take out a credit card, overdraft and a credit account to be able to pay for things this winter.”
At least 11 million pensioners lost the payments, worth between £200 to £300. Age UK said the payments had been withdrawn just as the weather got colder and that it had seen a 60% increase in calls to its advice line during the freezing whether.
Sandra added: “I have £4 in my [bank] account currently. I’m paying off my credit [card] account month by month, something that is a direct result of losing the winter fuel allowance.
“Psychologically, it makes you feel a bit of a failure.
“We’re still in the middle of winter, so I’m just hoping and praying we don’t get another cold snap because I don’t have anywhere to go if I can’t pay my bills.”
The is paid out to state pensioners in November and December every year and is a £200 lump sum for anyone under 80, increasing to £300 for the over 80s.
Last year , Reeves said it would only be paid out to the poorest pensioners, who qualify for pension credit and other benefits.
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Age UK said: “The cold weather is one of the biggest topics callers are worried about at the moment.
“Even though the date to claim pension credit by, to be awarded the this year has now passed, we are still seeing enquiries for benefit checks due to the increased worry of meeting the .”
News also spoke to pensioners in village of Sedbergh in Cumbria where cold weather payments had been triggered.
Cold weather payments are a one-off £25 sum paid to anyone living in a postcode where the temperature has dipped to zero celcius or below for seven days.
Rosemary, 93, and Marjorie, 92, said neither of them had qualified for the or cold weather payment.
“It’s a lot of money to lose,” Rosemary said. “It makes a big difference. You shouldn’t rely on it but you did rely on it. I thought ‘oh well I can get a bit of extra food, I can get another bag of coal in’.”