Bridget is in her mid-70s and lives alone in a small Cotswolds market town. After raising four children, she worked for many years as a council care worker, visiting people needing care in their own homes. Consequently, she has a very modest work pension and receives £374 per fortnight in her state pension. She asked me to help her find out if she could claim pension credit which would let her continue to receive the winter fuel allowance (WFA). Unfortunately, it seems that she is just over the threshold so that access to much-needed help with her winter fuel bills is not a possibility.
This is her response:
“Having the WFA has been such a help to me over the last few years. I knew that I could put the heating on when it got really cold, at certain times of the day, without worrying that I could not pay my energy bill. I have arthritis which gets much worse when the weather is cold and damp, affecting my mobility, which means I move less and therefore feel the cold more. I do lots of useful things to reduce my energy use and stay as warm as possible – heating just one room and I don’t use my oven.
“I wear extra layers of clothes and have a heated blanket, but this coming winter is looking very bleak. My energy company announced another rise in their prices from October so staying warm is going to be even more difficult. The cost of living seems to rise all the time. I notice that the prices of my food shopping continue to go up too.
“The struggle to survive is real, constantly penny pinching, but there is a limit to how much you can tighten your belt. I never expected to live in luxury in my old age, but I certainly never imagined that I would be worrying so much about keeping body and soul together.”
Calls for a rethink on the winter fuel allowance
The policy to scrap some winter fuel payments is expected to reduce the number of pensioners who receive the payment from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving the Treasury £1.4bn this financial year. It is a highly controversial decision with criticism from across the political spectrum, with backbench Labour MPs expressing concern, many charities calling for a better way to help those locked out of the WFA, and older people themselves, who fear the winter coming, calling for support.
Furthermore, it is likely to be an expensive cost-cutting measure, with doctors saying that there will be an associated rise in hospital admissions. For everyone who dies, there will be several admitted to hospital, or left with residual medical problems that will place an even greater burden on the NHS and cost more money.
The argument for means testing this benefit rests on the notion that many pensioners are rich and do not need the help. Some affluent ones say they pass the money on to charities or send it back. But the idea that pensioners are all ‘rich’ is a nonsense. We have some of the lowest old age pensions with comparable countries in Europe although the ‘triple lock’ in recent years has helped to increase state pensions.
Opposition to Labour’s policy on the winter fuel allowance
Age UK strongly opposes the policy and has launched a ‘Save the Winter Fuel Payments’ campaign to scrap the changes:
“Means testing the Winter Fuel Payment, with no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, is the wrong policy choice, and one which will potentially jeopardise the health as well as the finances of millions of older people this winter – the last thing either they or the NHS needs.”
Similarly, Martin Lewis, the well-respected money expert, has been one of the loudest voices calling for a rethink. Lewis has said that the targeting of the WFA is too narrow with the winter we have coming. The Energy Price Cap is to rise 10% this October and stay high across the winter, leaving most energy bills nearly double those pre-crisis, at levels unaffordable for millions.
Acknowledging that there is an argument for ending the universality of WFA, Lewis has suggested that a different method of assessing eligibility should be used, perhaps based on council tax bands. Many other commentators have made the point that this cut has been made without thinking through the implications for millions of pensioners who will not qualify for help.
Austerity on steroids
The government has now conceded that there will be a vote on the issue, although any rebellion is unlikely to succeed. An estimated 50 Labour MPs may abstain. Starmer seems determined to reiterate the point that they have been forced to take difficult decisions because of the “£22 billion black hole” in the country’s finances left by the previous Conservative government.
Indeed, we have heard little else from the new government since it came to office. It has ramped up the rhetoric on the ‘black hole’ at every conceivable opportunity. In a much-derided comment Lucy Powell, Leader of the House, even claimed that not means testing “would likely see the markets losing confidence, potentially a run on the pound, the economy crashing”. Both the prime minister and the chancellor seem in no mood to change their minds. ‘Austerity on steroids’ is what some are calling it.
The crude dividing line between those on pension credit who will receive WFA and those like Bridget who just miss out is an indication that the decision has not been properly considered and no impact assessment done. If your income is above £11,500 (for single people) or £17,000 (for a couple) you will not be eligible. Then there are those who may be eligible for pension credit but haven’t claimed for various reasons. Some may be too proud to ask for the extra help they need; others are put off by the 24-page form you need to fill in, with over 100 questions. There are too many barriers to claiming benefits which people are entitled to.
Enough doom and gloom – we need some hope!
When the Labour Party won the general election, many breathed a sigh of relief that a more compassionate and responsive government was in place to begin to mend what had been broken by 14 years of Tory government. I asked Bridget how she felt about the change in government. Her views echo those of many, some of whom are pro-Labour and some who reluctantly voted them in, or rather the Conservatives out:
“I am disappointed by what I have heard so far. But pleased that my local MP, Dr Simon Opher, has supported us on the axing of the WFA. After the hard years that we have all already been through, people need hope again. Not lectures about how it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
“I am too old to wait for jam tomorrow.”
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