Pensioners Face Choice Over Heating or Eating Says East Riding Councillor

Sunday, 13 October 2024 06:00

By Andrew Spence, LDRS

A concerned councillor says thousands of pensioners in the East Riding will have to choose between “heating and eating” this year.

He says it's because of the controversial decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance, for all except those on pension credit, and says it will leave tens of thousands short this winter.

Cllr Jeremy Wilcock raised a motion at an East Riding of Yorkshire Council meeting for the Council to write to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as well as calling for all of the area’s MPs to call for a “fairer” method to be used to calculate who will receive the payment.

Cllr John Bovill seconded Cllr Wilcock’s motion and told the chamber:

“We all knew that difficult decisions would have to be made but none of us would have guessed that the first way the Labour Government was going to bring about change was by punishing the poor and vulnerable pensioners whilst we have millionaires and billionaires getting richer.”

The Government insists that the decision to cut the blanket winter fuel allowance given to all pensioners was necessary due to a £22 billion black hole in the country’s finances which was left behind by the previous regime.

Cllr Wilcock’s motion, which ultimately passed 52-3, also sought to raise awareness of the Pension Credit system. Cllr Wilcock stated that only 63% of those eligible for Pension Credit actually receive the support.

Cllr Bovill argued that the Pension Credit sign up forms are overcomplicated, saying “anyone would think the system is set up to make it as difficult as possible to apply, so people just give up.”

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