WFP: Missed opportunity’ to boost value for lowest incomes

Responding to the Social Justice Secretary’s announcement that all pensioners in Scotland with an income of less than £35,000 will receive Pension Age Winter Heating Payments this winter of either £203.40 or £305.10 per household, Adam Stachura, Policy Director at Age Scotland, said:

“This will alleviate the anxiety pensioners on low and modest incomes have been expressing about this coming winter, and it is right that the Scottish Government have recognised that the value of the original Pension Age Winter Heating Payment wasn’t adequate for them. While this is a considerable increase for the vast majority of pensioners compared to what the Scottish Government had originally planned, it only really brings it back to what they received two winters ago. Around 4 in 10 Scottish pensioners were living in fuel poverty then, and it will have sky-rocketed since.

“The Scottish Government has the money to do something much more transformational for this group of pensioners and also boost the value of the payment for people on Pension Credit, but they’ve missed that opportunity. Instead, it’s a carbon copy of the UK Government’s approach, essentially paid for directly with that new money. The big question is where is the previously budgeted for money is now going? That could have paid for at least £100 more for people on the lowest incomes and Pension Credit, and a greater increase for everyone else to take into account the colder winters and typically higher energy bills Scottish pensioners face compared to England and Wales. An increase of £3 or £5 in comparison is pretty meek.

“The policy making on this payment has been guddled, lacked consultation, and politically charged throughout. While this is partly to do with the speed of the UK Government’s original change and subsequent U-turn, the Scottish Government’s repeated commitment to universality and its benefits has been abandoned in a heartbeat.

“While in the end this payment is broadly now proportionally fairer, it doesn’t really match the material need of most older people and take advantage of the financial means the government has available to improve it.”