Worse, it threatens to drive millions of pensioners crazy too, as they figure out whether they’ll qualify for the cash this winter.
I’m on the brink of madness myself, having tried to work out who gets the payment, who doesn’t, and who gets it only to have it clawed back through the tax system.
The rules are insanely complicated. So please, bear with me.
Before Reeves waded in last summer, the rules were pretty straightforward. Pensioner households got £200 towards winter heating bills, or £300 if over 80.
The Chancellor scrapped the payment for all but the poorest, around two million claiming Pension Credit.
Now she’s panicked and done a partial U-turn. Around nine million pensioners in England and Wales will get something this year after all.
But who will be eligible and for what? That’s where the lunacy begins.
The payment remains household-based, which adds complexity from the start. If you live alone and are over state pension age, you’ll get £200. If you’re over 80, you’ll get £300.
But if you live with another pensioner, things change. If both are below 80, you’ll get £100 each. If one is 80-plus, that person gets £200 and their partner gets £100. When both are over 80, it’s £150 each.
Are you following so far?
If you’re claiming Pension Credit, the rules change again. Then the whole household gets either £200 or £300 in one lump sum.
Even this would be manageable, if not exactly elegant. But Reeves has added a further twist by introducing a £35,000 taxable income threshold.
Go over it, and you lose your share of the payment through the tax system. Either via PAYE or the self-assessment tax system.
That’s where things get dizzying.
The threshold isn’t based on household income, despite the payment being household-based. So a couple could be treated very differently depending on how their incomes are split.
If one partner earns £38,000 while the other has just £12,000, they’ll get £200 but have to pay £100 back.
But if they both earn £25,000, they’ll keep the lot.
Yet their combined households will be the same at £50,000. And each couple will only be heating one home. That’s hardly fair, but that doesn’t matter.
Some will lose just £100. Others will lose the full £300. It all depends on age, income, who earns what and by how much.
Even HMRC will struggle to keep track. Heaven knows who’s going to apply these rules, and how much it will cost in admin.
Possibly more than Reeves is going to save. Yet more madness.
The definition of income is broad, too.
It includes the state pension, private pensions, dividends, rental income and any earnings from a job.
And it even includes savings interest earned within your Personal Savings Allowance, even though it isn’t taxable.
However, withdrawals from ISAs and tax-free pension lump sums don’t count towards that £35k allowance. Nor do Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance and other tax-free state benefits.
There’s no allowance for pensioners making court-ordered maintenance payments, even if it pulls their income below £35,000.
If anybody in government genuinely thinks this bonkers system makes sense, they’ve lost their marbles. Rachel Reeves certainly has.
When pensioners try to get their heads around the new system, they’ll do well not to lose theirs.
The thought that the person responsible for this is in charge of the UK economy will drive everybody else to the brink of madness too. Or despair.