EXCLUSIVE: The claw back figure is contained in a report by the Scottish Fiscal Commission
The Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will be means-tested.(Image: Getty Images)
Wealthier pensioners will have £30m in winter fuel payments taken off them this year by the SNP Government.
The claw back figure will rise by over 50% by the end of the decade as pension incomes creep over the eligibility threshold.
Under the new Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, older people will receive between £203.40 and £305.10 depending on age.
But the SNP Government mirrored the UK approach by axing the payment for households with a taxable income of over £35,000.
Pensioners on more than this amount can opt out of receiving the cash or they will have the payment “recovered”.
Figures produced by the Scottish Fiscal Commission show the spending on PAWHP will rise from £187m this year to £225m by 2030/31.
At the same time, the projected clawback jumps from £30m this year to £47m over the same period.
The SFC estimated that around 16% of the eligible pension-age population will have their payments recovered in 2025-26, rising to 21%.
They forecasted that the number of payments recovered will rise from 169,000 to 234,000.
The means-test is intended to ensure better-off pensioners do not receive the support.
Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves was blasted last year over plans to strip around 90% of households of their winter fuel payment.
She eventually backtracked and settled on a £35,000 cut off point.
The payment is devolved and the Scottish Government mirrored the Westminster approach.
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