Sir Keir Starmer has announced a U-turn on last year’s controversial cuts to winter fuel payments.

More than nine million pensioners lost out on the payments, worth up to £300, after eligibility for the pension top-up was tightened last year.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said ministers would look again at the threshold to allow “more pensioners” to qualify again.

He did not provide further details, adding that the changes would be made at a future Budget.

But he added the government would only “make decisions we can afford”.

The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over-80s, paid in November or December.

Around nine million pensioners lost out on the payments last year after the government restricted them to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, to save an estimated £1.4bn.

Some Labour MPs have blamed the policy for losses at last month’s local elections, where the party lost around two-thirds of the seats it was defending.

Grumbling from MPs generally on the Labour left spread into the party more widely, and even MPs who defended the policy said it was the most frequently raised issue by members of the public.

The policy has also faced fierce criticism from pensioner charities, and has been opposed by all the main opposition parties at Westminster.

Downing Street ruled out changes earlier this month, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves hinted at a change in position earlier this week, saying she was listening to “concerns” about the policy.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch appeared to welcome the U-turn in the Commons, adding that restricting eligibility for the payments last year had “driven thousands into hardship”.

However, she later tweeted that the change was “too little, too late”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also welcomed news that eligibility would be expanded, but pressed the prime minister to reverse the cuts “in full”.

The income threshold to qualify for pension credit this year is £11,800 for individuals and £18,023 for pensioner couples.

Providing an alternative way to qualify for the payments could create administrative hurdles for ministers and officials.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, a spokesman for the prime minister was unable to say how many more pensioners would be eligible for the benefit under the U-turn.

And he declined to guarantee it would be in place this coming winter, but added: “We obviously want to deliver this as quickly as possible.

“We will only make decisions when we can say where the money is coming from, how we’re going to pay for it and that it’s affordable,” he added.

The winter fuel payment was introduced in 1997 by New Labour as a universal payment for all pensioners.

It was billed as a way to guarantee they would be able to pay for increased heating costs over the winter – although in practice it is a pension top-up, which recipients can spend on whatever they want.

From 2010 onwards, the state pension gained additional protection under the “triple lock” policy – under which pensions go up each year by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5%.

This year state pensions went up by 4.1% – a rise of £363 a year for those on the basic pension or £472 for those on the new pension.