Latest Cost Of Living Figures Mean Pensioners Falling Behind As Benefits Go Unclaimed, UK

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 13 Feb 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Responding to the news that latest Government statistics show that the cost of living is increasing and that inflation has now crept above the Government's own target, Paul Cann, director of policy & external relations comments:-

'Older people are struggling under the weight of increasing costs of living but the basic state pension is now utterly failing to keep pace.

'Council Tax increases are taking an ever-larger toll on pensioners pockets, fuel costs overwhelm the annual Winter Fuel Allowance while even the costs of basics such as food and clothes means many older people are facing tough choices this year.

'The Government must now accept that the most recent rises in the state pension are inadequate. More must be done to secure higher levels of take-up of key benefits so that pensioner poverty is properly tackled. Paying benefits automatically via a single application would reduce the means-testing which acts as a real barrier for many older people when it comes to getting what they are entitled to. Help the Aged has calculated that as much as £4.5 billion worth of benefits is going unclaimed by our pensioner population, which is a damning indictment of a system that is in urgent need of reform.'

Notes:

1. Latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics show CPI inflation has increased beyond the Government's target to 2.2%, while RPI inflation has increased to 4.1%.

2. Research undertaken by the British Gas Help the Aged Partnership reveals that 1 in 3 pensioners do not know whom to contact for help and advice on how to claim cash benefits, which can total between £5,000 - £50,000 over a lifetime (Maximising the Benefits: An analysis of British Gas' benefit health check programmes, Tom Sefton, London School of Economics, November 2007).

3. Help the Aged produces an advice leaflet for older people with questions about benefits. Can You Claim It? is available from http://www.helptheaged.org.uk.

4. Help the Aged is the charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation, neglect and ageism. It campaigns to raise public awareness of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy change. The Charity delivers a range of services: information and advice, home support and community living, including international development work. These are supported by its paid-for services and fundraising activities - which aim to increase funding in the future to respond to the growing unmet needs of disadvantaged older people. Help the Aged also funds vital research into the health issues and experiences of older people to improve the quality of later life.

5. Help the Aged urgently needs donations and support to help it in the increasingly challenging fight to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect.

Help the Aged