\n
Unite claims the government should have done more to gather evidence on the impact of the cuts before announcing them.<\/p>\n
The union threatened to take legal action earlier this month, unless the government cancelled the cuts or produced more evidence for them.<\/p>\n
Now, it has instructed lawyers who are asking the High Court for an urgent judicial review of the policy.<\/p>\n
The government did undertake a limited “equality analysis” of the policy. Last week, it told the Commons work and pensions committee that 50,000 people could fall into relative poverty next year as a result of the withdrawal of payments – though this could be mitigated by an increased take-up of Pension Credit.<\/p>\n
But the union says this falls short of a full impact assessment, which would also take in to account the effect on older people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n
Ms Graham told the BBC the government had “brought something in without knowing what it is going to cost in terms of illness, what it is going to cost in terms of death”. <\/p>\n
Asked why she was backing potentially costly legal action, she said: \u2018”What I want is for the courts to hear this quickly, and to say if the proper impact assessment wasn\u2019t done, then actually the government needs to go back to the beginning and in the interim, they need to pay the winter fuel allowance for this year”.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, she argued that “people will not forgive Labour\u2019s decision”.<\/p>\n
“This issue is not going away,” she added.<\/p>\n
The union has also claimed that the independent Social Security Advisory Committee should have been consulted in advance.<\/p>\n
But in a letter to that committee, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said she had to act urgently to bring in the necessary regulations before winter, and to make in-year savings in government expenditure.<\/p>\n
The government has said it cannot comment on ongoing legal action. <\/p>\n
But a spokesman said it was committed to supporting pensioners and “millions would see their state pension rise by up to \u00a31,900 in this Parliament” due to the “triple-lock” uprating policy.<\/p>\n
The spokesman added that some would benefit from the \u00a3150 warm home discount, and applications for pension credit had increased significantly.<\/p>\n
There is no guarantee that taking legal action will stop the cuts. <\/p>\n
Government sources seem confident that the policy will not be reversed in the courts.<\/p>\n
But Unite\u2019s action once again highlights the controversy over the cuts as winter approaches.<\/p>\n
Pressure on the government at Westminster is likely to mount further if the Scottish government were to decide to mitigate the cuts in next week\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
And the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee is to start an inquiry into pensioner poverty \u2013 partly prompted by the cuts – in January. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Sharon](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/240\/cpsprodpb\/6b1d\/live\/2a6cb280-ad6a-11ef-967f-cbb1965d6a73.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n