A Hertfordshire charity is calling on people who can afford to forego their Winter Fuel Payment to donate the money to help the most vulnerable pensioners in the county.

Small Acts of Kindness, which provides 5,000 Warm in Winter gift bags for the elderly, will launch a new initiative to channel the Government payments to support those in the greatest need.

Winter Fuel Payments are paid out from November to virtually everyone over 65. The payments range from £200 to £450 irrespective of circumstance.

Small Acts of Kindness is urging anyone who can manage without their Winter Fuel Payment to consider donating it to help elderly people who will be cold in their homes and may face the choice between heating their house and buying food.

Lynne Misner, chief executive of Small Acts of Kindness, said: “Our practical Warm in Winter gift bags containing essential keep warm items are an intervention that can help reduce the risks that older people face when they are cold. For some older people, they could be a life saver.”

“That’s why we feel we can ask those who consider that they don’t really require their Winter Fuel Payment to live comfortably, to donate it, to a cause which reaches those in most need.

“For example, £200 would provide 40 older people with a blanket in which to wrap up warm. I am reminded of Aesop who said, ‘No act of kindness however small is ever wasted’.”

In the winter of 2016-17 there were 31,000 excess winter deaths among over 65s from cold-related illness such as heart attacks and strokes across the country.

Donations of Winter Fuel Payments can be made via the charity’s web site www.smallactsofkindness.co.uk.

If eligible for Gift Aid the charitable donation will increase by an additional 25 per cent.