Universal benefits, such as free prescriptions and eye tests for people over 60, free televison licences for those over 75 and the highly valued Winter Fuel Payment, have all been retained. Many had been concerned that the Winter Fuel Payment that pays £250 per household to people over 60, and £400 to those over 80, would be withdrawn. So the fact that it is continuing, for the time being at least, is a relief. Less positive, however, is the government’s announcement that it intends to phase out the Warm Front scheme, which provides help to make the homes of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society – many of whom will be older people dependent on Pension Credit – more energy efficient and therefore warmer and safer. The Governmant plans to reduce Warm Front’s current £280m per annum expenditure by more than half next year, before phasing the scheme out altogether in 2013. This is a real concern when one considers the large number of excess winter deaths that are still recorded each year.
It is vital, therefore, that older people check they are receiving everything to which they are entitled. If you are single and have a total income of less than £130 per week or a couple with less than £198 per week then you should check to see if you are entitled to pension credit. You can contact the pension service on 0800 99 1234 (have your NI number, details of income and savings and the account to which you want the payment to be made ready when you phone). Alternatively, you can contact Age Concern Exeter’s Information & Advice service, which runs Monday to Thursday, 10am to 1pm, on 01392 202092 with this or any other query.
Of course, as well as cuts, the chancellor also announced changes to the state pension age. A policy to change the state retirement age to 66 for both men and women has been accelerated, and will now come into force from April 2020 – six years earlier than originally planned. Women’s pension age will now increase more quickly between 2016 and 2018 to reach 65, before rising to 66 in 2020. The Government is also considering a timetable for future increases in state retirement age to 68 – goodness knows what our friends across the Channel would make of that!
The other announcement that will have a big impact on many older people is the cut of 28% to local councils. This is a huge reduction in expenditure for council’s to manage over four years, and will have a serious impact on local services. Many councils,
Devon County Council has responsibility for commissioning – that is paying for – social care services. Services that support the most vulnerable to live independently at home through a range of support, or, where that is not possible, by funding their long-term care where they do not have the finances to pay for it themselves. Of course, the majority of people who desperately need such support are older people and their carers. My plea to John Hart, the leader of Devon County Council, and Stuart Barker, the elected member responsible for social services, is to do all they can to protect social care funding.
We all know the demands for social care services are rising with an ageing population and an increase in the number of families coping with dementia. To remove funding from already over-stretched services could actually increase costs through older people ending up in hospital or long-term care sooner than would otherwise be the case, or carers being left unsupported and therefore unable to cope. The Council is obviously between a rock and a hard place, but protecting the most vulnerable must be their first duty. John Hart is currently asking for people’s views on how the Council should deal with the difficult decisions ahead. If you agree with me, that social care services should be protected in just the same way health services have been (they are two sides of the same coin, after all), then please let John Hart know your views. You can write to him at County Hall,
