The government’s refusal to publish a proper impact study of exactly who will be the worst off from the abolition of the winter fuel allowance for 10.8 million pensioners was one of the worst acts of this new Labour government.
Not only was it bad government not to provide the facts on such a big change for so many people but it looks like a deliberate act to conceal the damage ministers knew it would have on vulnerable people. But people are not fools and already where they have a chance to vote in local elections they are showing disdain for what Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have done. In a very short time voters have gone from voting for anyone who is not Conservative in the general election to anyone who is not Labour in local elections.
So it is good news today that a major charity, Age UK, has attempted to fill the gap and provide what the government refuses to do.
And it is not surprising that once again women, especially those living alone, the disabled, and the very elderly are most at risk. Elderly women are becoming the favourite target of both Tory and Labour administrations- first they raised the pension age without properly informing women – so 3.6 million 50s born women expecting a pension at 60 had to wait another six years to get one. Then they fiddled figures so people on the old pension would not properly inherit their husband’s pensions. And to add insult to injury the Department for Work and Pensions made huge errors in pension payments to women and is taking ages to pay out what they have lost.
The figures from Age UK research show pensioners living below or just above the poverty line, some 82%, or four in every five, will lose the Winter Fuel Allowance as a result of the Government’s decision, including 80% in this group who are aged over 80 and 78% who are disabled.
It is not surprising that there is such a divide in the UK. A report by IPPR North earlier this year found that life expectancy is falling in poorer areas compared to the wealthier part of the country. A man in the poorest part of Blackpool can expect on average to be dead a year after gaining their pension at 66 while a woman living in Belgravia in Kensington can expect to live to 94.
The Age UK Report say10.7m UK pensioners will lose their WFP of whom almost one in four (23%) live in poverty or just above the poverty line. Age UK take poverty to mean living 50 per cent below the median income and just above poverty to be 60 per cent of the same figure. Full details of their research methodology can be seen here.
Women as usual to take the highest proportion of the cut
Some 1.4 million are women; 1.1 million are disabled ,800,000 are over 80 and one million live alone.- all factors that could affect their health and well being if they cannot keep warm this winter.
Caroline Abrahams CBE, Charity Director at Age UK said:
“I think most members of the public will be horrified that this is the outcome of the Government’s decision, because it means that millions of pensioners are being exposed to the risk of failing to be able to stay adequately warm this winter, even though they are living on a low income. There will be widespread agreement, I’m sure, that Ministers must act in the Budget to protect them – and the best way for them to do so by far is to retain WFP as a universal entitlement this winter, before giving their policy options careful consideration as part of the Spending Review next Spring.
“However, if the Government is dead set on pressing ahead, the very least they should do is to greatly expand the numbers of pensioners who will receive a WFP beyond the small group they have so far said will retain it. They could achieve this in part by automatically giving the Payment to pensioners on other benefits, such as Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support, Personal Independence Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance. Even this would not be enough though because many pensioners on low incomes or in vulnerable circumstances would still miss out on a WFP when they can ill afford to do so. This means the Government would need to go further; for example, looking to give extra help to the older people who for various reasons receive only a small proportion of the full State Pension, for whom the WFP is an absolute lifeline.”
Age UK continues to urge the public to show solidarity and sign its petition to Save the Winter Fuel Payment for struggling pensioners. The petition has now received more than 553,000 signatures showing the strength of public feeling behind the rushed decision to means test the Winter Fuel Payment.
Certainly there is enormous interest in this issue. My own blog has had over 190,000 hits for raising it and some of the comments from distressed people hit by this have been heart breaking. Time for the government to reverse part of this ban. We are not all as rich as Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves not to need it.
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What the government have not said that those on new state pension can’t get pension credit. admittedly that was the Tories who set out the amount. I was so pleased when I woke to hear who got in but i have to say i am utterly disgusted with this government. What they are doing to pensioners, the women of the the 50’s now more so than before. They know they won”t get their compensation, I even had what helped a lot with my bill again because I’m not on pension credit and lose out on the £150 each. I can’t get that any more. The other thing, and I’m not sure which government it was, when my mother retired who has been dead now for 22yrs could not get full pension because my father died at the age of 47 even though he paid his stamp and tax. She could not get of of it back I have to say thank you for you hard work and keeping people informed, sorry unable to donate as I don’t have any spare money.
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Brilliant report
Sent from my iPhone
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I must confess that I agree with the sentiments expressed, not just as one who is in this category by income and who loses out in another way but because it is the issue of universal payments to all that ought to have been addressed. I think there would have been widespread acceptance of that if there had been careful examination of where and how the qualifying figure was set. The pension credit figures used are very low. The process is formidable in terms of applying and goes against the ethos of many from the immediate post World War II era. Most of us are averse to claiming state benefits; we believe in self-sufficiency and to making do. Martin Lewis has suggested alternative simple ways to end universality more gradually and fairly using Council Tax bands.
The other reason people like me don’t qualify for pension credit is through having a foreign spouse. It means for us the higher pensioner couple allowance figure of £17,300 can’t be used, just my single person one, £11,300. It is not known how many couples there are like us in the UK or abroad. However an even higher income figure of £29,000* than those was set by the outgoing government to apply for a spouse visa for couples to live in UK. (*to go to £38,000 later this year and to $38,700 in 2025) These figures are far above the pension people like me acquire after working abroad in developing countries with charities or local NGOs. Yvette Cooper has ordered a review of it but it will not change much. It is clear that Britons with foreign family members are no longer welcomed despite “Global Britain” claims. They’re caught up in deterring all immigrants. That is unlikely to change soon.
At one time the UK championed for all its citizens full rights to a family life and to a decent retirement after work. Not any more.
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Thanks John for this. It raises a lot of questions about the present insular culture where we are being repeatedly told that we must reduce the number of foreigners living in the UK as though they are a danger to British people and using up precious resources. This goes against another trend of internationalism where people travel, work abroad, and marry people from different nationalities. I notice on the internet the rise of digital nomads who can use new technology anywhere to work and particularly among the young the desire to explore new places and meet new friends. The danger is if this insular attitude persists people won’t want to live here and decide it is better to leave the country for a more inclusive way of life.
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Thank you for you reply. You are right. There should not be blanket rules as stamped in to passports “No recourse to work or benefits.” Benefits we can understand but not work. Some of us have argued that local DWP offices should have discretion. Where we live, as in much of the UK, there are numerous vacancies, especially in social care and hospitality. Many foreign spouses would be happy to work, and if those qualifying income figures apply, they could contribute to it while making great contributions to local communities.
Also as you say we encourage travel abroad in many respects. It can be a rite of passage of growing-up with students volunteering in gap years or after graduating. Britons working abroad are vital in commerce, industry, services as well as Foreign Aid. They are all ambassadors for UK, yet if they take their “cultivating of mutual beneficial relationships with their foreign hosts” one stage further, and marry one of their citizens, they are suddenly not welcome to return home. The costs of surmounting the formalities to do so as you see are formidable.
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