In light of the recent government decision to means test winter fuel payments (WFP), charity, Age UK, has launched an emergency petition to help save the payments for all pensioners.
The petition calls on the Government to halt their proposed change to the WFP and think again. The Charity says that means-testing the WFP this winter, with virtually no notice and no compensatory measures to protect the poor and vulnerable pensioners who will miss out, is the wrong policy decision and will lead to hardship and distress.
That’s principally because this winter, Age UK estimates around 2 million struggling pensioners won’t receive up to £300 they rely on to help pay their energy bills as a result of means-testing being brought in. They comprise of three main groups:
• Those who just miss out on Pension Credit because their very modest incomes are slightly too high for them to be eligible, usually because they have a tiny occupational pension. Many of them are women.
• Those with high energy needs because of disability or illness, and/or who live in energy inefficient homes which cost a lot of money to heat, estimated at 200,000.
• A million pensioners who don’t receive the Pension Credit for which they are eligible because they do not claim it. The problem of low take up with Pension Credit is deeply entrenched, with about a third of all those entitled to it consistently failing to claim it over many years.
The Charity points out that the hit to many poor and vulnerable pensioners as a result of this decision is not the only one, they will receive this year, when it comes to help with paying their energy bills. Pensioners will have up to £600 less this winter in Government support with their heating bills compared to last year because the Cost of Living payments brought in temporarily by the previous government have now stopped. Plus, the Household Support Fund is also ending in September.
Energy bills for a typical household are £1,568 now, around 29% above their winter 2021/22 levels. It is expected they will go up again in October if the energy price cap increases.
Against this worrying context, especially for those on low and modest incomes or whose energy bills are necessarily always high the charity is calling on the public to sign its petition.
When launched, a target of achieving 300,000 signatures was set. At the time of writing the number of people signing the petition has already reached almost 90% of its target with over 270,000 people having added their names to the campaign.
However, the charity is not going to stop there. The petition is expected to run until the end of September at the least and the charity is urging as many people as possible to come forward and add their support. You can add your name to those that have already signed in one of three ways as follows:-
• Write to FREEPOST, Age UK Campaigns and ask them to send you a copy of the petition form which you can then sign and return.
• Ask a friend or loved one to print a template of the petition from the Age UK website which you can then sign and return to them again at FREEPOST, Age UK Campaigns
• Go to the Age UK website at www.ageuk.org.uk where you will find a link to sign the petition online.
