I led the UK national campaign that led to the adoption by the Blair government of the winter fuel payments system. The problem the campaign addressed was the annual 40,000 excess winter deaths among people affected by fuel poverty. The response – a universal rather than a targeted payment – was adopted because of the low take-up of pension credits and other benefits by many of those at risk; this take-up failure stands at 800,000 non-applicants today. In restricting the payment to recipients of pension credits (Up to 2m pensioners will struggle without winter fuel help, say campaigners, 29 July, the chancellor acknowledges that take-up is a problem and has proposed that local authorities should be responsible for ensuring that everyone eligible receives the benefit. However, it is difficult to see how hard-pressed councils, which are not responsible for allocating pension credits, will be able to do more to bridge this gap. Winter fuel payments have been attacked by the Conservatives and the Lib Dems in government, and by Labour supporters who see them as going to the wealthy who do not need them, and many recipients have said they don’t want them, but they are taxable income. It has been the price of ensuring that everyone in fuel poverty is protected that we have a system that gives with one hand and takes back from some with the other. Why, in a period of high fuel prices, has the chancellor gone for this measure that risks increasing winter ill health and mortality, particularly among elderly people? The Scottish government was advised some years ago to abandon winter fuel payments but, instead, initiated its own universal pension-age winter heating payment. English and Welsh pensioners might well ask why their wellbeing is of less significance to the UK government. Damian Killeen Former director, The Poverty Alliance So “the winter fuel allowance made no sense for pensioners not on benefits”, according to Polly Toynbee (The billions Britain needs are at Rachel Reeves’s fingertips, and no fiscal promises need be broken, 30 July), and “many people will agree that affluent pensioners do not need the winter fuel allowance – though there will doubtless be those on the income boundary who will suffer”, according to Zoe Williams (‘Wows’ abound as Reeves rails against unknown unknowns, 29 July). Try telling that to my 86-year‑old mother, whose small pension – hard-earned by my late father, thinking he was doing the right thing – puts her just above the pension credit limit. She broke down in tears on Monday, worrying about how she is going to afford the heating this winter. Tears, too, of anger and betrayal, that one of the first acts of the Labour government she has voted for all her life was to take away £300 rather than raising income from those who are able to pay more. The situation could be worse. I have offered to pay her £300 from my savings; £70 of that will come from the Labour party membership that I have just cancelled. Catherine Fuller Bungay, Suffolk I’m sure the Guardian readers who have had their winter fuel allowance cut will be really thrilled. Especially when they read that any pensioner who has an income of above £218.15 a week – the cut-off point for pension credit eligibility – is both a “wealthier” one and an “affluent” one. Those doctors must be rolling in it! Ken Ward Crewe, Cheshire Now that the winter fuel allowance is to be given only to those who really need it, I can confess to wondering if the £10 “Christmas bonus” given to pensioners costs more than £10 to administer. Would it be missed? As for the extra 25p awarded to us octogenarians, the only visible benefit is the occasional humorous letter to the Guardian. Harry Marsh London Years ago, Joan Bakewell suggested that pensioners who didn’t need the winter fuel allowance should donate it to charity. Like thousands of others, I’ve done this ever since. All pensioners on low incomes should be encouraged to apply for pension credit to qualify. That will reduce some of the money the government will gain, but it’s infinitely better than handing out money to millions of us who don’t need it. Irene Waddell Harrogate, North Yorkshire On Monday, Rachel Reeves said: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.” That’s why I won’t turn on the heating this winter. Janette Ward Tarrington, Herefordshire