iple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, is one of those who has lost her winter fuel payment and described the cold as “crippling”.
Ms van Bueren said: “It seeps into your bones and sits there. It consumes you. With each year that passes, I feel myself fading a little more. I’m just over the limit for pension credit so I won’t get my winter fuel allowance anymore and I do wonder if I will see the other side of this winter.”
Critics warned that the NHS, which experienced an acute winter crisis last year as a result of strikes and missed targets, could be overwhelmed by pensioners made ill by the cold.
Campaign groups and charities have warned that thousands more elderly retirees are at risk becoming ill due to Ms Reeves’s decision.
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