Mike Hancock News
5,000 Portsmouth Pensioners miss out on cold weather payments
Up to 1.7 million pensioners may have missed out Cold Weather payments, triggered by the recent severe weather according to an analysis of Government figures by the Liberal Democrats.
This includes 5,000 pensioners in Portsmouth.
Cold Weather payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes but they have also to be receipt of a qualifying benefit such as Pension Credit. This goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7 million pensioners.
Commenting on this, Mike Hancock said: "It is a scandal that pensioners on the breadline are missing out on these payments, worth an estimated £42.5 million. Especially as fuel prices are at a record high, making Cold Weather Payments all the more important to those struggling on a low pension."
"Labour has made the system so complicated, many pensioners unfortunately don't claim the money that they are entitled to. The Government should be making more effort to identify those who could get it."
Notes:
People can get Cold Weather Payments worth £25 when temperatures are below zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days when they claim a qualifying benefit. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Inretirement/DG_10018668
The severe weather in January triggered one cold weather payment in the Portsmouth area.
Pension Credit is a qualifying benefit yet Department for Work and Pensions figures for 2007-08 (the most recent available) show that between 1.1m and 1.7m pensioners who are poor enough to qualify for Pension Credit do not claim, meaning they won't have received Cold Weather Payments to help with fuel bills during the recent cold snap http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/income_analysis/jun_2009/0708_PensionCredit.pdf
Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that there were 4,150 pensioners claiming Pension Credit in Portsmouth North and 5790 in Portsmouth South. But a third of pensioners entitled to pension credit don't claim it - indicating that there could be a further 4,970 pensioners in Portsmouth entitled to it.
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