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Approximately 50,000 pensioners are expected to live in relative poverty next year due to cuts in winter fuel allowances, according to government estimates. In March, Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared that the £300 payment would be retained only for the poorest pensioners eligible for pension credit. Despite the introduction of a government campaign to encourage eligible pensioners to apply for pension credit, the new figures suggest poverty rates after housing costs are expected to rise by 0.5 percentage points.
The government’s predictions indicate that in the years ending March 2025, March 2026 and March 2028, an additional 50,000 pensioners will live in relative poverty after housing costs. By the years ending March 2027, March 2029 and March 2030, that number is predicted to rise to 100,000. Although the cumulative figures do not indicate those affected consecutively, with results subject to personal circumstances, the estimates demonstrate the widespread impact of the cuts on UK pensioners.
Currently, the government predicts that 1.9m pensioners, or roughly 15% of the population, live in relative poverty. The changes to winter fuel allowances are expected to have a significant impact on this figure. According to Helen Whately, Conservatives’ Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, the cuts will jeopardise the economic welfare of about 100,000 pensioners in the coming years. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, commented that: “While the Conservatives undoubtedly left this government a dire fiscal inheritance, that’s no excuse to push more pensioners into poverty as the temperature plummets.”
When questioned by the press on the figures, Keir Starmer, the UK’s Leader of the Opposition, confirmed that a £470 rise in the spring would be added to the state pension, successfully benefitting pensioners. Although a Scottish Labour colleague has recently promised expanded eligibility for pension credit should their party come to power, British authorities have allegedly continued to promote the initiative as costs outweigh government spending capacity in the aftermath of an inherited fiscal crisis
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