Ms Somerville called on the UK Government to take action to address the root causes of fuel poverty and volatile energy prices.

The letter following the publication of the UK Government’s equality analysis on the impact of the introduction of a means-tested Winter Fuel Payments, which shows that across all assessed characteristics those affected by this change in policy will greatly outnumber those unaffected.

Ms Somerville writes: “The Scottish Government continues to support vulnerable households from fuel poverty through a range of actions within our limited devolved powers. This year alone, we are spending £134 million on activities to mitigate UK Government policies through schemes such as Discretionary Housing Payments and the Scottish Welfare Fund, which provide vital support to households struggling to meet their housing and energy costs.

“However, we cannot continue to mitigate UK austerity policy decisions. What is really needed is reform of the UK energy markets to address the root causes of fuel poverty in Scotland, such as high fuel prices. In these circumstances, I would urge you to now reverse the Winter Fuel Payment decision and reinstate the payment for all pensioners.

This decision was of course taken without consultation or discussion with the Scottish Government and it has had devastating consequences for our planned launch of Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, reducing the Block-Grant Adjustment for our devolved payment by over 80%.

“Having carefully considered the options, given the significant impact of this decision and the wider cuts being imposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on our budgets, we have had no choice but to mirror this approach in Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, our replacement for Winter Fuel Payment, which is to be delivered in Scotland this Winter by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Government.”