An extra 200,000 pensioners are to lose winter fuel payments under "cruel" Labour plans unveiled in the Budget, and the number is set to rise every year. Documents published quietly on a Government website reveal the number set to be denied lifeline payments is 2.2 million, significantly higher than previously announced, and pension experts warned it will grow every year.

The Treasury said in June that two million older people would lose winter fuel payments of up to £300, following a decision to strip the benefit from people with incomes of £35,000 or more. A new impact analysis by the Government, published alongside Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Budget this week, now shows the true figure is 2.2 million. Treasury documents also show that the £35,000 threshold is fixed at least until 2029, rather than rising with inflation. It means more pensioners will be caught in the means-testing trap every year simply because of the annual rise in the state pension.

Steve Webb, partner at pension consultants LCP said: "Another stealthy freeze in the tax system is the £35,000 cut-off for entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments.

"This was not increased in the Budget and it seems highly like that it will remain frozen for the foreseeable future.

"This means that pensioners currently on incomes under £35,000 could lose their Winter Fuel Payments if inflation increases to their pensions gradually take them over the cut-off.

"A policy that was originally meant to deprive 2 million pensioners of payments will actually hit a growing number of pensioners with every passing year for as long as the income limit is frozen."

The means-testing regime was announced by in June following a Labour u-turn over even tougher restrictions that saw 10 million pensioners lose winter fuel payments, with the government's own analysis suggesting 50,000 were plunged into poverty as a result.

Under the new policy, winter fuel payments will initially be sent to all pensioners but those with incomes above £35,000 will repay the money through the tax system, typically paying £17 per month.

Dennis Reed, director of campaign group Silver Voices, said: "It's a cruel and cynical move by the Government.

"The Government has basically got itself off the hook with its own backbenchers over the winter fuel payment, but they are not committed to it in any way. More and more pensioners will be denied the winter fuel payment as time goes on.

"You can't set a means test and not increase it in line with inflation, because that means the number receiving the payment will gradually wind down to almost nothing.

"In addition, they are not increasing the winter fuel payment itself with inflation. Energy prices are going up all the time, but they are determined to stick to the £200 or £300 level. So it is a two-pronged attack which undermines the promises they made."