A veteran with a household income just £5 above Rachel Reeves’s winter fuel payment threshold has shared his relief following Rachel Reeves’s U-turn. John Dockree, 73, and his wife Wenefreda, 57, had spent their days huddling with their rescue dogs Miska and Connor to ward off the bitter cold in their one-bedroom bungalow in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
With little money left for heating, they would only turn it on for an hour a day when temperatures plummeted. But that changed when dog lover and Express reader Scarlett Lirely, 52, saw their story online and stepped in to help.
Speaking following the U-turn on Monday, John said: “I’m rather pleased actually. They shouldn’t have took it away in the first place.
“We were lucky because the Express put us in touch with Scarlett. We were lucky. That was a godsend, and not only that but it wasn’t a really cold winter. We were lucky.
“I just want to thank you [Express] for what you did for us last winter. Honestly you were a godsend. You helped us no end. Thank you for what you did.”
Grandfather of two John, who served as a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer for over five years, previously told how the Chancellor would “kill us all off” by scrapping the lifeline.
Pension credit was not an option for John because his state pension of £213.50 a week, plus his wife’s income from cleaning offices for two hours five days a week, leaves their income £5 above the threshold of eligibility.
Wenefreda is unable to work more because of a medical condition.
John, who shared his relief at the payment being restored, said: “If it’s a cold winter next year, at least we’ve got some help now. I know a lot of people who all said they’d cut back, not turning their heaters on and all that.”
“Basically, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I wasn’t very happy but then I’m not very happy with a lot of what Labour’s done since they’ve been in anyway.”