Pension alert over Christmas

12/12/2007

Help The Aged has warned that thousands of older people may struggle to get hold of their weekly pension over the Christmas period because of a payment decision by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

People who collect their pension from the local post office will only have until 12.30pm on Christmas Eve (December 24th) to collect their payments instead of the usual Monday to Wednesday.

Anna Pearson, policy manager at Help the Aged, says: "Many older people are living on the breadline and have to budget on a weekly basis.  We're particularly concerned that these people won't have time to collect their money and then be able to buy their food for the week. They will be left with precious little time to get to the shops on what is already an incredibly busy and hectic day.

"The DWP should have ensured that people receive two weeks payment at once rather than shoehorning all the payments into half of Christmas Eve - when many people will prefer to be at home or with family."

Help the Aged is urging older people to do what they can to plan ahead and, if possible, use a cash machine or buy their Christmas goods in advance.