DWP Drive To Boost Pensions Credit Take Up Is Unlikely To Avert Fuel Poverty Rise, Warn Charities
5 min read
A new push by the Labour Government to make sure pensioners do not miss out on financial support they are entitled to is unlikely to avert a rise in fuel poverty, charities have warned.
Age UK and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition also criticised ministers for failing to consult with them on their recent decision to scrap universal Winter Fuel Allowance.
Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Winter Fuel Payment would be moving to a means-tested arrangement. As a result, only those claiming means tested benefits like pension credit will be eligible. Previously, it was available to all pensioners.
Reeves said the decision was not one she "wanted" to make, but one that was needed to help plug a £22bn "black hole" which she accused the previous Tory government of leaving in the public finances before being removed from power.
The move worried a number of of Labour MPs who as PoliticsHome reported, met with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones to voice their concerns.
The Department for Work and Pensions has this week launched a publicly campaign to ensure that pensioners on the lowest incomes don't miss out on financial support this winter. It is estimated around 800,000 pensioners on low incomes who are eligible for pension credit currently do not claim it, and therefore face losing their Winter Fuel Payment.
However, Age UK has warned that while it welcomes the effort to boost awarness, it is unlikely to "be enough" to avert a rise in fuel poverty in the coming months.
"It's great that they're doing [a pension credit uptake campaign], we really welcome it — we're going to do everything we can to support it," Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, told PoliticsHome.
"But history suggests that it's not going to be enough — particularly given there's only four months, which is a very short space of time to try and tackle what is a very entrenched long term problem of low take up of pension credit."
Households eligible for pension credit, which is means tested based on income, can claim up to £332.95 per week and it is separate to the state pension.
Age UK believes there are three groups of people — totalling around two million — who will be most affected by the change to the Winter Fuel Payment eligbility.
The first is those people who are entitled to pension credit but not claiming it. The second is pensioners who are slightly above the income threshold for pension credit and are therefore ineligible for it. And the third, Abrahams said, are pensioners who seem like they "ought to be all right" based on their incomes but have much higher energy bills than average due to age-related health problems in the household.
"Maybe there's someone in the household who is incontinent, so they have to run the washing machine every day.
"Or perhaps they're people living in homes which are very expensive to heat, we have some of the oldest and least energy efficient housing stock in Europe," she told PoliticsHome.
"Those sorts of people, although they might have a little bit more money, end up with really, really high energy bills they can't avoid because of their personal circumstances."
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has launched a publicity drive to ensure pensioners don't miss out on financial support they are entitled to (Alamy)
Abrahams said older people who turn their heating off to avoid getting into debt with their energy bills could end up in hospitals as a result, putting pressure on public services.
"They're going to get cold, and being chronically cold is very bad for older people's health.
"Particularly if they're people who are living with long-term health conditions like lung conditions or cardiovascular disease, because being very cold when you're older raises your blood pressure, and that can make it more likely that you have a heart attack or a stroke," she said.
"Then, of course, there are all sorts of other things that can happen to you: you just become less resilient to disease.
"We obviously get lots of winter bugs anyway, and flu, COVID — they've not gone away — so it just makes people more liable to be unwell... some of them will wind up in hospital, unfortunately, and certainly be in touch with their GPs."
Abrahamas said she was disappointed that the Government had failed to consult with stakeholders on the decision to means-test WInter Fuel Payments.
"It's certainly true that there wasn't any consultation that I'm aware of with people external to the Treasury, which is where decision was made as I understand it.
"Of course, had they consulted then we would have told them these sorts of things, and then maybe they wouldn't have ended up making this decision."
Simon Francis, co-ordinator at the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, also warned of extra pressure on health services this winter as a result of the decision to scale back the payment.
"The decision came with no consultation, no discussion about these people who are amongst the most vulnerable and, of course, most likely to suffer from the long term health consequences of living in cold damp homes," he told PoliticsHome.
"Which ultimately means that any savings that the government claims it's going to be making will be offset by the fact that the people who are going to be harmed by this decision will turn to the doors of the NHS because of the impact of living in cold dump homes.
"We're really concerned about what we're going to see this winter."
A Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to pensioners: protecting the triple lock, keeping energy bills low through our Warm Homes Plan, and cutting NHS waiting lists – bringing real stability to people’s lives.
“We said we would be honest with the public and, given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, we are taking difficult decisions to fix the foundations of the economy.
“In these circumstances it is right that Winter Fuel Payment are targeted at those in most need, and we will work with Local Authorities to boost the uptake of Pension Credit, reaching the many pensioners who could still benefit from this year’s Winter Fuel Payments.”
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