PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Cost of Living: Support for Pensioners - 3 September 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

This Government support the triple lock. As a result, the state pension is worth £900 more than it was this time last year. In April, it will go up again by the highest of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5%. Our commitment to the triple lock is for not just one year but the duration of this Parliament. In addition, pensioners will continue to benefit from free eye tests, free prescriptions and free bus passes, and those pensioners most in need will continue to receive winter fuel payments alongside the pension credit.

I thank the Chancellor for her answer, but nearly 22,000 pensioners in North Shropshire are forecast to lose their winter fuel payments very soon, just as energy prices for the average household are about to go up by 10%. Many of my pensioners live in bungalows and older housing stock, which is expensive to heat. A lot of them have been in touch with me to say that they are worried sick about this winter. We know the Chancellor has difficult choices to make, and we accept that, but will she consider that the broadest shoulders are not those of pensioners who earn less than the minimum wage and are about to lose this vital support?

I understand the concerns that the hon. Lady sets out. The state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and energy bills are lower this winter than they were last winter. As she points out, we inherited a £22 billion black hole from the previous Government, who had made unfunded spending commitments with no idea how to pay for them. When I became Chancellor, I undertook an immediate audit of the spending situation to understand the scale of the challenge, and I made difficult decisions—some very difficult decisions—to put the public finances on a sustainable footing. They were tough decisions, but they were the right decisions in the circumstances we faced. They included the decision to make the winter fuel payment better targeted, so pensioners who need it most will still get it alongside pension credit. Targeting the winter fuel payment will save around £1.5 billion a year to support public finances.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and welcome him to his place. He will be a powerful representative for the people of Torbay. Like him, I want to ensure that the lowest income pensioners get the support they are entitled to. Under the previous Government, 800,000 pensioner households that were entitled to pension credit did not receive it. That is why this Government are taking action to encourage the uptake of pension credit to ensure that the poorest pensioners—those who are not even receiving the minimum income guarantee—are getting it.

We are working with organisations such as Age UK and local authorities. All local authorities, including those in Torbay, have been written to about how they can play their part in identifying those pensioners who are entitled to pension credit but are not getting it. The Department for Work and Pensions will also bring together the administration of pension credit and housing benefit, so that pensioner households receiving housing benefit will also receive any pension credit they are entitled to—something the previous Government deferred for years, despite knowing that the poorest pensioners were missing out.

The Chancellor’s announcement of cuts to the winter fuel payment was quickly followed by news of a 10% increase in the energy price cap. South Devon has a higher than average number of pensioners, many of whom, particularly those in rural areas, are living in fuel poverty. Many of my constituents are struggling to meet the cost of heating, but do not quite qualify for pension credit. They, and thousands of vulnerable people across the country, are deeply anxious about what this winter has in store for them. Will the Chancellor take this opportunity to spell out exactly how she plans to tackle fuel poverty among the elderly?

I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. Pensioners in South Devon, in common with pensioners in all our constituencies, will receive a basic state pension that is worth £900 more than it was a year ago, and energy prices are lower this winter than they were last winter. Many of her constituents will be entitled to pension credit but, because of a failure to act by the last Government, are not currently receiving it. We all need to play our part in ensuring that everybody gets the help they are entitled to. We should all ensure that our poorest pensioners get that support from both pension credit and the winter fuel payment associated with it.

The village of Copley, in my constituency, is the snowiest in England and we have many pensioners in receipt of the basic state pension who are, none the less, in fuel poverty. They are not entitled to pension credit. They live in cold, stone-built houses. What assurance can the Chancellor give to those pensioners that this Government will help to warm their homes and ensure they do not struggle to heat their homes this winter?

This Government have committed to insulate an additional 5 million homes during the course of this Parliament to ensure that energy bills are as low as possible, saving people money and ensuring that their homes are warmer. That will help my hon. Friend’s constituents in Copley and constituents across the country.

Will the Chancellor explain to the House the damage done to pensioners’ livelihoods by the previous Government’s economic incompetence and their decision to cover up the £22 billion black hole in the public finances?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to remind us of the dire inheritance that this Government face. The previous Government made spending commitment after spending commitment with absolutely no idea of how to pay for them. From road and rail projects to A-levels and the Rwanda deal, we saw £22 billion of unfunded commitments. We will fix the foundations of the economy, rebuild Britain and ensure that working people are better off. We will fix the mess that the last Government left.

Will the Chancellor confirm that a state pension increase will be announced at the Budget and that it will be equivalent to wage growth, inflation or 2.5%—whichever is higher?

The Government have committed to the triple lock not just for this year, but for the duration of this Parliament. That means that pensioners are £900 better off than they were a year ago. Based on September earnings and inflation data, we will uprate pensions next year by whichever is higher: 2.5%, inflation or average earnings. We are ensuring that pensioners get the pensions that they are entitled to and have contributed to.

I call the shadow Minister.

Ten years ago, the now Chancellor argued in this House that winter fuel payments should be means-tested and cut for “the richest pensioners”. The Chancellor’s 10-year campaign has now come to fruition and she has proposed removing the winter fuel payment from pensioners on just £13,000 a year. Does she still think that a pensioner on £13,000 a year is rich?

What came to an end in July was 14 years of a Conservative Government who presided over a fall in living standards, the highest tax burden in 70 years, a debt, as a share of our economy, of almost 100%, and a £22 billion black hole in the public finances just this year. What we have not heard from those on the Opposition Front Bench, or indeed from any Conservative Member of Parliament, is an apology for the mess that they have left this country in, which this Government are now picking up.