ECONOMY Minister Gordon Lyons recently announced that Northern Ireland would be following Westminster's lead on making cuts to winter fuel payments. 

Under the new Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, pensioners must be in receipt of Pension Credit, or a means-tested benefit, meaning those on the State Pension will no longer be eligible.

As a result of these changes, around 249,000 pensioners in Northern Ireland will not receive their Winter Fuel Payment this year.

Those who are impacted will lose payments worth between £100 and £300 per year. 

To be eligible for Pension Credit, a pensioner's income will be taken into consideration, including state pension, private pensions, other means-tested benefits, and income from employment. 

If weekly income is over £218.15 as a single person, or a joint weekly income is over £332.95, then a pensioner will not be eligible for Pension Credit and a Winter Fuel Payment. 

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said that the cuts were "completely wrong", but said to break parity with the United Kingdom would come at a significant cost to public services. 

"The estimated additional cost to the Block Grant of maintaining universal entitlement to a Winter Fuel Payment in Northern Ireland for Winter 2024/25 is £44.3m, and this does not even include any additional delivery or staffing costs," he said.

"In addition, it is estimated that an appropriate IT system to deliver universal Winter Fuel Payments in Northern Ireland could cost between £5m to £8m for development, and a further 20 per cent of the development spend per annum for support and maintenance."

He continued: "In the meantime, it is extremely important that people ensure that they are receiving all of the benefits they are entitled to.

"I would therefore encourage everyone to check their entitlement to Pension Credit at their earliest opportunity. 

"This can be done by telephoning the Northern Ireland Pension Centre’s Pension Credit Application Line."