A charity has responded to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “plan for change”, suggesting that millions of struggling pensioners have been forgotten.
In a speech delivered at Pinewood Studios today, the prime minister set out six milestones to measure the Government’s progress in delivering his plan to “change the UK”.
Sir Keir said the public targets would “give the British people the power to hold our feet to the fire”, with initiatives such as building millions of homes, shortening NHS treatment times, and improving living standards across the country.
The charity Independent Age has since responded, suggesting that millions of pensioners have “not been considered” in the plans.
Amy Dodge, head of influencing at Independent Age said: “We welcome the Prime Minister’s pledge to raise living standards for every part of the UK, but we are concerned that the almost two million older people living in poverty right now have not been considered in the six milestones put forward.
“If the UK Government is serious about raising living standards across the country, it must introduce both short term and long term policies that help lift older people out of financial hardship.
“Time is running out, but it is still not too late to reconsider the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment. Linking it to Pension Credit was misguided and will see far too many older people fall through the cracks.
“The UK Government’s own modelling showed it could increase pensioner poverty by 100,000.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the annual Winter Fuel Payment benefit would become means-tested this year, stripping the support from millions of state pensioners who would have previously been eligible in a bid to cut costs.
Ms Dodge continued: “Our helpline has been inundated with calls from frightened older people that are already making drastic cutbacks such as eating less and only heating one room. This shouldn’t be happening.”
“In the long-term, the UK Government must ensure financial security for all people in later life.”
Ms Dodge concluded by emphasising the charity’s campaign for the introduction of national social tariffs for water and energy.
She added: “This will help protect people on low incomes from future spikes in costs. It is also time for a cross-party consensus on what an adequate income in later life should be to avoid financial hardship.
“Once this is established, robust plans can be put in place to roll this out to every older person.”
The Prime Minister listed his six milestones after saying that a “strong foundation” of economic stability, and security measures had now allowed Labour to look ahead.
The first milestone to reach by the end of the Parliament is “higher living standards in every region of the country”, with Sir Keir Starmer added the UK was aiming for the “highest sustained growth in the G7, so working people have more money in their pocket”.
The second is to build 1.5 million new homes, and the third to put “more police on the beat, stamping out anti-social behaviour in every community”.
Sir Keir’s fourth milestone is to give every child the “best start in life” with a record number of five-year-olds entering school “ready to learn”.
His fifth milestone is clean power by 2030, “so never again can a tyrant like Putin attack the living standards of working people”.
And his sixth and final milestone was to cut NHS waiting lists to 18 weeks between referral and treatment.
