The DWP’s latest research has unveiled the number of Brits on the brink of poverty within the next three years. A whopping 100,000 pensioners are set to be plunged into poverty by 2027, as a direct consequence of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s revisions to Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, it found.
The Department for Work and Pensions carried out an extensive analysis of the severe impacts these cutbacks might provoke, publishing their findings just this week. According to the report, 50,000 additional pensioners may slip into “relative poverty” by the end of next year after housing costs are accounted for, with steady increments bringing another 50,000 into similar straits by 2026.
But it’s by 2027 that the figures truly alarm: approximately 100,000 more elderly individuals may be scrimping by, a figure that repeats across 2029 and 2030, albeit with a brief respite to 50,000 in 2028.
It’s crucial to clarify that these numbers aren’t cumulative; they don’t imply that an additional 450,000 pensioners will be impoverished by 2030.
Instead, they illustrate the year-on-year differential – that is, how many more pensioners could be enveloped by poverty if the policy isn’t reversed.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall underscored an important proviso regarding this data, highlighting that the research’s modelling can only detect shifts of 50,000 people or more due to its methodologies.
The model’s calculations may not fully incorporate the impact of other government initiatives, such as the campaign to increase Pension Credit uptake. This benefit aims to prevent retirees from falling into poverty by offering a pension supplement and is one of the DWP‘s most underclaimed benefits.
Altering the criteria for Winter Fuel Payment eligibility so that only those on Pension Credit or certain other benefits can receive the £200 or £300 aid for winter has markedly boosted claims for the credit, and consequently made thousands more pensioners eligible for the seasonal payment and potentially additional substantial annual benefits.
Kendall’s observations from the research point out that Pension Credit claims have soared by 152%. Nevertheless, Helen Whately, the Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary, commented: “Finally, the dam breaks and we get to see what Labour have known all along.
“Labour made a political choice to give inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters, and now 100,000 pensioners are going to be plunged into poverty. Now the true impact of their cut has been revealed it’s time for Labour to reverse it.”
