BISHOPS used a debate within the House of Lords on Wednesday to precise their concerns in regards to the lack of winter fuel payments for a lot of pensioners, as peers considered a motion to annul the Government’s decision to use a way test.
The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, said that he was currently a recipient of winter fuel payments, though he said that peers were “unlikely to be seriously affected” personally by the changes.
For many pensioners in his diocese, nevertheless, and potentially tens of millions across the country, the cuts could be a “significant financial hit, with opposed repercussions this coming winter”.
The move, he feared, would “define [the Government] in the general public mind for years to come back”, despite protestations that the state of the general public funds made the policy vital.
An increased take-up of pension credit, the criterion for eligibility, was not, he suggested, an adequate mitigation. “Means-tested advantages attract doubtless unintended stigmatisation, with a burden to each applicant and state by way of administration and, inevitably, a failure by those eligible to take up the profit.”
An alternative “with much to commend it” was making the winter fuel payments a taxable profit, in order that those with higher incomes would pay a proportion of tax back on the payment.
He voted in favour of a motion to annul the planned restrictions, a motion proposed by Baroness Altmann, a non-affiliated life peer and pensions campaigner. Her chief objection was to the speed at which the brand new policy could be executed, and she or he stated her agreement with the principle that those with significant assets shouldn’t receive the payments.
The motion, which followed the failed attempt within the House of Commons to overturn the brand new policy on Tuesday, was defeated by 30 votes to 138.
The Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, then spoke and voted in support of a milder motion, which he regretted had fallen within the Commons. The motion later fell within the Lords, by 65 votes to 132.
He said that he appreciated that the economic situation meant that “tough selections” needed to be made, but argued that “tough selections must even be clever selections”, and that he harboured “misgivings in regards to the wisdom” of the Government’s move.
The timing and pace of the changes was a matter for concern, he said: the energy price cap had been lifted, and this meant that many pensions could be faced with higher bills similtaneously losing their entitlement to the payments.
Dr Wilcox also queried whether the best way that pensioners could be means tested, based on their receipt of pension credit. The solution was an easy one, but he doubted that “in this case an easy solution is the most effective solution.
“All Members of this House recognise that many either don’t claim pension credits to which they’re entitled, or are marginally ineligible for those credits, and can inevitably experience considerable additional hardship on account of those regulations.”
Baroness Sherlock responded to the controversy on behalf of the Government, and reiterated the argument that the cut was vital as a result of a “huge hole in the general public funds”.
“No one thinks that things are OK in our country,” she said, and referred to strains on the health service, public services, and the criminal-justice system.
Baroness Sherlock, who was ordained in 2018, is currently Under-Secretary of State within the Department for Work and Pensions. She called for an end to the stigma of receiving advantages, and urged people to examine whether or not they still qualified for winter fuel payments, despite being just over the edge for pension credit, as they is likely to be entitled to payments.
“Please tell anyone you understand who might give you the option to qualify to get in there and discover,” she said, and highlighted the Government’s efforts to make people aware of their entitlements.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Christians Against Poverty (CAP) warned that lots of their clients had “deep concern” in regards to the changes, and a few of them would miss out on payments because they were just over the edge (News, 12 September).
One in three people entitled to pension credit weren’t claiming it, the CAP spokesman said, and he urged people to make use of the calculator tool on the charity’s website to examine that they weren’t missing out on any payments.
