COLD Weather Payments have been challenged by West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox during a select committee parliamentary inquiry into fuel poverty.
Mr Cox questioned Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Joan Ruddock after it emerged that hundreds of pensioners and people on low incomes in West Devon and Torridge may have been denied emergency Government aid to help pay their heating bills during the recent cold snap.
The Cold Weather Payment is automatically given to those receiving pension credits. Those on income support or jobseekers' allowance may also be eligible.
Payments are triggered when the average temperature drops below zero for several days in a row. But as the system relies on temperature readings at a handful of Met Office weather stations spread across the country, people in remote areas may lose out.
It means residents on Dartmoor share the same temperature as Plymouth, while all of Torridge is treated as having the same temperature as coastal Chivenor — neither weather station has recorded sub-zero temperatures despite the cold snap.
Mr Cox said: 'Devon has some of the most rugged and exposed terrain in the country, and I am very worried the elderly, vulnerable people and those on low incomes may have been denied the help they so urgently need because the assessment methods depend on weather stations in warmer areas.
'None of my constituents have received the Cold Weather Payment, yet I know of several cases where elderly constituents have reported their pipes being frozen for days on end.
'More allowance should be made for local variations in climate, particularly in rural areas like our own. Surely local authorities would be better suited for the task at matching emergency money to the correct area?'
Mrs Ruddock promised Mr Cox she would look into the issue.