A group of councillors are calling for a review of the winter fuel allowance cuts - as more than 16,000 pensioners across Bracknell are facing their first winter without receiving financial help for heating their homes.

The Labour Government scrapped the payment between £200 to £300 to elderly people in September, blaming a ‘black hole’ left in its finances from the previous conservative government.

Ninety per cent of elderly Bracknell residents will no longer receive the payment, with only those on means tested benefits now eligible.

Now, conservative councillors at Bracknell Forest Council are calling on a review of the decision to be made by the government.

Councillor Nick Allen has submitted a motion branding the cuts a ‘social injustice’, warning ‘risks to health and wellbeing and financial hardship’ for those affected.

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The conservative member for Owlsmoor and College Town will urge colleagues to collectively sign a petition by charity Age UK at the full council meeting on Wednesday, November 27.

If passed, the leader of the council will write to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves as well as the MP for Bracknell to ‘demand a review of the decision to means-test the winter fuel payment, in order to protect vulnerable pensioners’.

Councillor Allen noted the ‘good work’ being done by the authority and community partners to signpost elderly residents towards help available.

Conservative Councillor Gareth Barnard also raised concerns about the winter fuel cuts and the potential impact it could have on the authority’s finances.

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He told finance bosses: “Unfortunately, not just for resident, but for the budget any additional cost or pressure on these winter months will not just be born on the health service, but by us.”

He argued that the adult social care budget - which cannot enter an overspend – could be affected.

Stuart McKellar said the government had made the decision ‘well after’ the council’s budget had been set so there was ‘no opportunity’ to put more funding in.

Labour MP for Bracknell Peter Swallow said in September it was an ‘incredibly difficult decision’, and ‘not a decision that I or the government want to take’.

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He said his Government were supporting the elderly in other ways, including an uplift in state pensions, the extension of the household support fund and the creation of GB Energy.

Whether Councillor Allen’s motion receives backing hangs in the balance, as the council is controlled by the Labour party.

It will be presented at the full council meeting on Wednesday, November 27.