My Lords, I rise to speak to the Motion standing in my name, the third of the Motions on the Order Paper today. In doing so, I must stress sympathy with the sentiments spoken of so well on the Motion from the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. However, I understand from reading the House that there is not a lot of support in your Lordships’ House for the fatal Motion—although, as I say, I have great sympathy with it.
My Motion calls attention to the most vulnerable pensioners, many of whom will lose support just as energy bills are set to rise again. About 10 million pensioners will lose winter fuel payments of up to £300 because of the decision taken by this Government, after years of Conservative mismanagement that has left the public finances in crisis. But this is the wrong answer to the challenges we face: it is clear that many pensioners rely on a winter fuel payment, which is not a luxury.
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This cut will leave about 2 million people worrying how they will afford their energy bills this winter. I am sure I am not alone in having just received a message from my energy supplier that there will be a significant increase in costs. For many it will be a choice of eating or heating this winter. Age UK has condemned the cut as being introduced
“with virtually no notice and no compensatory measures”.
My personal view is that winter fuel payments could have been kept universal but been taxed. The Government have chosen not to go down that path or to take other measures that would have protected some of our most vulnerable pensioners—so, as the noble Baronesses have said, we are having to focus on pension credit, which goes only to those who have a weekly income of up to £218.15, or £332.95 jointly if they have a partner.
A crucial part of my regret Motion is that the changes rely on take-up rates for pension credit. Around 1 million eligible pensioners do not claim it. The Motion in my name stresses the need to identify and deal with low take-up—I have a feeling that the Minister would agree with that. DWP has made calculations of achieving an increase in take-up but, even assuming its optimism is justified, that will still leave us with about 700,000 eligible pensioners not getting pension credit, and thus with the double whammy of not getting winter fuel payments.
People are asking: why do they not claim? Is it pride or lack of awareness? Is it an inability to cope with the system? How many of those eligible will be deterred by having 140 to 200 questions on the application form? Is an estimated saving of £1.4 billion realistic if the Government are successful in drastically increasing the number of those eligible to claim? We know that pension credit claims can take many months to be processed. My Motion seeks assurances, which I hope the Minister will give, that delays will not contribute to even more pensioners going cold this winter.
My Motion also calls for more support for vulnerable pensioners this winter, not only those who are eligible for pension credit but others who are vulnerable. Policy in Practice has estimated that around 130,000 elderly people miss out on pension credit because they are just £500, or £9.61 per week, over the income threshold to
claim the benefit. These are tiny sums and the Government must take action to tackle this unfair cliff edge that they have now created.
In my Motion we are calling on the Government to take a different approach. It calls for steps to be taken to identify those eligible for pension credit. It calls for more winter support for pensioners, not only those eligible for pension credit. It calls for an end to fuel poverty, perhaps by an emergency insulation programme and a windfall tax on profits from oil and gas companies. If there is a financial crisis, the load must be spread to those most able to shoulder the burden. Let us move on from the world of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted miser, and, like him, seek redemption by voting in favour of my regret Motion.