MORE than 7m families who receive child benefit are to be given a one-off payment of £150 to help meet soaring fuel bills under plans being drawn up by Gordon Brown.

The £1 billion handout is expected to form a key part of the prime minister’s autumn fightback after a dismal first 14 months in power.

Details of the winter fuel payment scheme were inadvertently revealed by a top civil servant who was overheard discussing the secret strategy on a train.

Sir Brian Bender, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, told a colleague that ministers were keen to give extra money to “ordinary people” worried about rising energy bills.

When asked whether the payments would be aimed at disadvantaged groups, Bender replied: “No, a fuel rebate for everybody on child benefit.”

Previously, winter fuel benefits have been paid only to the over-60s, who will receive at least £250 this year.

Child benefit is paid to all families with children under 16 and older teenagers in full-time education or training.

The plan to extend the scheme to 7.5m families with children is recognition of mounting public discontent with rising household energy costs. It also highlights Brown’s desperate need for a bold announcement to silence Labour critics plotting to oust him from No 10.

Until now it had been expected that extra financial assistance would be targeted at pensioners, the low-paid and people on benefits who suffer from “fuel poverty”, defined as when more than 10% of household income is used to heat the home.

However, Brown is determined that middle-class families - whose votes will determine the outcome of the next general election - should also gain from any new handouts.

Michael Fallon, Conservative chairman of the Commons Treasury scrutiny committee, said: “This is blatant, indiscriminate electioneering in one of the final winters before the general election.”

The existence of the family winter fuel payment plan had been known to only a handful of ministers and officials.

However, on July 25, Bender, a veteran mandarin, was travelling in a first-class carriage of the 3.05pm GNER service from Leeds to London.

A passenger who was sitting near the civil servant said she heard him disclose the prime minister’s fightback plans to a younger colleague during the journey.

“I first thought they were bankers,” said the passenger, who holds a senior position in the media. “They were talking about deals, investments and large sums of money. Then I realised they were civil servants discussing government policy.

“The two of them were having a wide-ranging conversation. They were talking about their career plans and their summer holidays, but they were mainly talking about the government plans relating to the rising price of fuel.”

Bender, whom she identified later from pictures on his department’s website, said he was returning to London to discuss the fuel plans. “It was only as we drew into the station that it became clear exactly what the plan was,” said the fellow passenger.

“I heard him say: ‘He wants to give it to the ordinary people.’ I think he was referring to Gordon Brown. His colleague suggested the extra cash would go to the needy, but he replied, ‘No, a fuel rebate for everybody on child benefit’.”

A spokeswoman confirmed that Bender had been on the King’s Cross train that day but refused to comment on the fuel rebate plan. “No decisions on any new measures have yet been taken,” she said.

A Whitehall source said the fuel payment was likely to be set at £150 per family. “It has to be set lower than the amount currently paid to pensioners,” he said, “but high enough that people will really notice the difference.” It is understood Brown discussed the fuel rebate plan with confidants on the same day Bender was travelling to London.

Ministers are also drawing up a scheme to pay for pensioners to take holidays in British resorts with relatives who look after them. The government would not only pay the hotel and travel bills of a pensioner but also provide a professional carer to accompany them.

Ivan Lewis, the health minister, said: “Traditional forms of respite care force older people into care homes. We want to give families the right to make a different choice.”

Officials are examining a range of possible taxes to pay for the new benefits. About £500m is likely to be raised through a “green tax” on power suppliers, and Brown is still considering a separate windfall levy on utility companies.

A YouGov poll for the News of the World showed Labour on 26%, 20 points behind the Tories, with voters saying they would be more likely to vote Labour if Brown quit.

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