Pensioners and disabled people slam changes to Warm Home Discount

She continued: “I use the WHD to help with the costs of energy over the coldest period of December, January and February, so this year it was more important than ever.

“I am disabled, have a life-threatening condition and had a stroke at 59 last year, so I cannot get cold. I have NOT received the Warm Home Discount this year, I qualify because of my benefits, but it is because of my house.

“When I get even colder, hunger, and say have another stroke, it’s going to cost the Government even more than £150.00 when I end up in hospital, or even permanent care.

“All for the sake of them messing around with a scheme that worked perfectly well before.”

Robert Galloway hasn’t received the Warm Home Discount of £150 this year, despite getting it for the last five years.

He suffers from Multiple Scerosis (MS), a condition affecting the brain and spinal cord that gets much worse when it’s cold.

Mr Galloway told Express.co.uk: “It doesn’t make sense, the house is still very cold and I was depending on the money as I do every other year.

“I was very upset and disappointed when I found out that I was not getting the payment. I had to ring my energy company to find out if I was because I had not heard anything from them.”

Express.co.uk contacted the Government department responsible for the Warm Home Discount for a response and clarification on the changes. BEIS declined to comment further.

It said three million households will receive the Warm Home Discount this year, compared to around 2.2 million in previous years.

The discount is given to households on means-tested benefits who live in homes the BEIS has estimated as a “relatively high cost to heat”.

The BEIS uses data on the type, size and age of the property, taken from the Valuation Office Agency, to estimate whether a property is high cost to heat. Further details of this are set out here.