Southport pensioners missing out on £millions warns Labour’s Liz

26th June 2019
Liz savage

A new report shows that pensioners in Southport have missed out on over £13m worth of pension credits since the last election.

Across the UK, the poorest pensioners have not received £7 billion of Pension Credit during the same period, meaning vulnerable people are being left without much-needed income.

New analysis by Grant Thornton UK LLP for the charity Independent Age has found the Pension Credit scandal to be widespread, with the worst affected region being the North West which has over 170,000 pensioner households missing out.

This comes on top of a social care system already in crisis as the impact of nearly a decade of cuts by the Lib Dems and Tories to council budgets has resulted in falling care quality and care packages being cut or rationed.

Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Southport, Liz Savage, said local pensioners should be made aware of their entitlements:

“ The government is just keeping quiet and sitting on this money.  The latest figures from the charty show £6,521,000 went unclaimed in Southport constituency in 2016/17, which is a significant sum. Based on that, it means since then nearly £20m has failed to reach some of the most vulnerable members of our local community.

Older people in Southport should check whether they are eligible for pension credit to ensure that they are getting what they are entitled to. Of course, this also now affects whether they will qualify for a free TV licence, another responsibility the government has side-stepped.

This Conservative government seems happy for this situation to continue, as it’s too chaotic and too busy looking after itself to look after the people in our communities who need it most.”

Jack Dromey MP, Labour’s Shadow Pensions Minister, said:

“The last Labour Government cut pensioner poverty consistently because we introduced Pension Credit, but the Tories have callously allowed pensioner poverty to rise once again.

“The Tories’ idea for encouraging people to apply for Pension Credit – an “online toolkit” – would be laughable if this wasn’t so serious. No one should be surprised that usage of that website has drastically declined.

“The Government must right this wrong immediately and do more to increase take-up of Pension Credit.”