MPs have opened an inquiry into the state of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) financial support, after a minister admitted that cost-cutting reforms would plunge 50,000 people in one age group into poverty. Labour revealed shortly after getting into power that the £300 Winter Fuel Payment would become means-tested, but now predicts the move will leave thousands of pensioners struggling to make ends meet.
The Work and Pensions Committee opened the first stage of the inquiry on Friday, asking experts and older Brits to submit evidence and testimony so that parliament can get insight into the many financial challenges facing pensioners. MPs want to know if “pension age benefits and the State Pension [are] enough to stop pensioners from falling into poverty?”
Labour’s DWP minister Liz Kendall MP told the committee in a letter last week that the department’s internal modelling showed 50,000 more pensioners falling into relative poverty each year, as a result of restricting the Winter Fuel Payment to Pension Credit claimants. This was down from a previously unknown initial estimate of 100,000 in just this winter alone.
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However, it is not just the restriction of this £200 to £300 in cash assistance with heating bills that is affecting pensioners, most of whom live on fixed incomes while facing the same cost of living pressures as younger Brits. Making matters worse, many in the older age groups are reticent to accept help, or unaware it is out there.
By the DWP’s estimation, there are still 760,000 British pensioners who qualify for Pension Credit, a benefit which provides an average cash boost of £3900 per claimant, but are failing to claim it. To receive the benefit and the Winter Fuel Payment, your income must be below a weekly threshold of £173 a week for individuals, or £236 for couples.
What the inquiry is looking into
The inquiry, ‘Pensioner poverty – challenges and mitigations’, wants to look in great detail at the many issues facing pensioners to hold the government to account – and hopefully inform DWP policy.
Life is complex. Many different circumstances can lead to financial hardships among Britain’s pensioners, which is why MPs want to hear from older people who are facing hardship about their circumstances and the impact they are having on their health and wider lives.
In their public call for information, the Work and Pensions Committee state: “We are looking at the state of pensioner poverty in the UK. Which groups are most affected? What are the health impacts? How do the State Pension and other pension age benefits mitigate the risks?”
The inquiry wants to know how older Brits with fixed incomes are coping with fixed costs, like food, energy, and housing, as well as if they are receiving enough help with the cost of living crisis.
Before asking the public to share their views, the inquiry added: “The Government’s decision to restrict the Winter Fuel Payment eligibility and to hold a pensions review has raised the question of pension adequacy.”
