David Cameron rejects means tests for winter fuel payments David Cameron has rejected calls to means-test winter fuel payments, insisting he would stick to an election pledge not to cut state help for pensioners. The Prime Minister stuck to his guns after former minister for care services, Paul Burstow, said all but the poorest OAPs should be stripped of the cash. Campaign groups have warned that some elderly people could freeze to death if the calls to scrap the allowance for four out of five pensioners are heeded. Lib Dem MP Mr Burstow said in a report for the think-tank Centre Forum that targeting the allowance could save £1.5 billion a year. His claim came less than a month after his party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, also questioned whether universal benefits for the elderly were affordable any more in an age of austerity. Mr Burstow believes the money could be used to pay for free care for the elderly south of the Border, similar to the service already available in Scotland. He said ten million pensioners should lose their entitlement to the winter fuel allowance which stands at £200 for an individual and £300 for a couple. But Mr Cameron said: "I made a very clear promise at the election that we would keep the winter fuel payments alongside the other pensioner benefits as they were, and that's a promise I'm keeping." Mr Burstow warned public money had to be directed at those most in need. He said: "We're talking, for example, of pensioners, 100,000 in this country, who still have incomes over £100,000 a year. Can it be right, when we're taking away universal benefits, such as child benefit, to continue to pay a winter fuel allowance to that group of people, many of whom themselves say they don't use it for winter fuel payments, but for other things? Yesterday, Ros Altman, the director-general of pensioners" organisation Saga warned cutting the winter fuel allowance would lead to many pensioners dying. The concerns over deaths from cold weather are even greater in Scotland where the temperature is on average five degrees centigrade lower. Ms Altman said: "Every winter, over 20,000 pensioners die of cold in this country and these "excess winter deaths" would increase if more pensioners were denied their winter fuel ­payment." Other organisations dismissed Mr Burstow's proposals.Dot Gibson, general-secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said: "It's a shame that someone didn't buy Mr Burstow a calculator for Christmas ­because if they had, he would have realised that his plan just doesn't add up. Introducing a means-tested system will create a costly and inefficient bureaucracy, which evidence shows will result in those who need it most failing to make a claim. Labour shadow health minister Andrew Gwynne said: "The government is completely out of touch with the immediate care crisis. Instead of sticking their heads in the sand, they should engage in serious cross-party talks.