During a speech on public service reform and preventative public health measures to ensure Scots live longer, healthier, wealthier lives, the First Minister confirmed further details of the Winter Fuel Payment scheme will be set out in due course and that ‘the Scottish Government will always seek what is best for Scotland’s pensioners’.

The First Minister said: “Prevention is the hard-nosed financial principle behind the decisions we have taken, for example, on the Winter Fuel Payment. The Winter Fuel Payment kept some of the most vulnerable in society warm in winter - it was always the right thing to do but it was also the smart thing to do.

“Smart because it kept people out of hospital, in their own home. It kept them warm and well. And then it was gone. To be quite blunt about it, I don’t believe cutting this winter lifeline was ever going to save a penny because making millions of pensioners poorer makes them also colder and makes them also sicker and that in turn puts up the bill for our social services and our NHS.

“It is an almost textbook definition of a false economy. Keeping the Winter Fuel Payment looks after our pensioners, but it also looks after our NHS. That is the sharp financial reality of the prevention principle in action. It is one of the reasons we were so quick to step in to protect pensioners in Scotland as best we could from that wrong decision by the UK Government.

“And now they have seen the error of their ways, my government will once again do right by Scotland’s pensioners.

“I am very happy to confirm that no pensioner in Scotland will receive less than they would under the new UK scheme. Details will be set out in due course by my Government, but the Scottish Government will always seek what is best for Scotland’s pensioners.”

Responding to the announcement, Adam Stachura, associate director of policy, communications and external affairs at Age Scotland, added: “This is welcome news from the First Minister and will reassure pensioners on low and modest incomes that they will be better able to manage their huge winter energy bills. There has been considerable concern from many older people over the last week that they would receive less winter support than people in England and Wales, so this sensible move from the Scottish Government certainly allays that anxiety.

“We’ve been really concerned that for hundreds of thousands of Scottish pensioners on low and modest incomes, living in fuel poverty and not claiming or entitled to Pension Credit that the £100 Pension Age Winter Heating Payment just wouldn’t be enough. It is good news that the Scottish Government have now also recognised that.

“We’ve asked the First Minister to commit to using every penny of the new funding to boost the energy support payment for pensioners in Scotland, rather than covering what they have already budgeted for. The money is now there to not only match what pensioners in England and Wales but offer even more to those on the lowest incomes and help drive down the astronomically high levels of fuel poverty and financial insecurity faced by pensioners in Scotland.

“The devil is in the detail, though, and we look forward to understanding how the Scottish Government will manage this payment this winter and what, if any, financial thresholds they place on its eligibility. They are in a slightly tricky situation as they have already gone to some length to cement the benefits of a universal payment in Scotland.”