The temperature here in Mid Wales is three below zero – and energy bills have risen again, so let’s have some support for older people who have been forced to live without the life-saving winter fuel payment by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
The BBC is reporting that the second increase in Ofgem’s price cap this winter took effect on New Year’s Day and means someone paying by direct debit and using a typical amount of gas and electricity will pay £1,738 a year – £21 a year more than under the previous cap
Bill-payers are being urged to submit a meter reading to avoid overpaying on estimated usage.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Bills are about 50 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels (why not pre-Ukraine war, BBC? That would be more relevant), and analysts predict they will rise by a further three per cent in April.
Meanwhile, millions of pensioners have been deprived of their universal winter fuel payment, to help cover the costs of rising energy bills. While many will not be affected, tens of thousands – possibly hundreds of thousands – are.
The threshold for getting the payment is now receipt of Pension Credit, and around 150,000 people have applied for it since Rachel Reeves said they should, back in July last year.
More than 90,000 of them were still waiting for a decision last month, as the BBC reported – because Reeves’s colleague, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, did not bother to prepare for the massive influx of applications.
It is likely that many of them will not receive their Pension Credit until April – by which time they may have died from the cold, or hunger, here in the sixth-richest country in the world.
Many of them have already been refused the lifeline.
I wonder what mechanisms the government has put in place to check on the well-being of pensioners facing a freezing winter. How will we know how many are dying if they aren’t counted?
Watch the video clip of this article on YouTube:
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Three below zero – and energy bills have risen again
The temperature here in Mid Wales is three below zero – and energy bills have risen again, so let’s have some support for older people who have been forced to live without the life-saving winter fuel payment by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
The BBC is reporting that the second increase in Ofgem’s price cap this winter took effect on New Year’s Day and means someone paying by direct debit and using a typical amount of gas and electricity will pay £1,738 a year – £21 a year more than under the previous cap
Bill-payers are being urged to submit a meter reading to avoid overpaying on estimated usage.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Bills are about 50 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels (why not pre-Ukraine war, BBC? That would be more relevant), and analysts predict they will rise by a further three per cent in April.
Meanwhile, millions of pensioners have been deprived of their universal winter fuel payment, to help cover the costs of rising energy bills. While many will not be affected, tens of thousands – possibly hundreds of thousands – are.
The threshold for getting the payment is now receipt of Pension Credit, and around 150,000 people have applied for it since Rachel Reeves said they should, back in July last year.
More than 90,000 of them were still waiting for a decision last month, as the BBC reported – because Reeves’s colleague, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, did not bother to prepare for the massive influx of applications.
It is likely that many of them will not receive their Pension Credit until April – by which time they may have died from the cold, or hunger, here in the sixth-richest country in the world.
Many of them have already been refused the lifeline.
I wonder what mechanisms the government has put in place to check on the well-being of pensioners facing a freezing winter. How will we know how many are dying if they aren’t counted?
Watch the video clip of this article on YouTube:
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
Tories have not backtracked on Bedroom Tax for pensioners – they’re just prolonging the agony
Tories in tatters over NHS as stormin’ Corbyn trounces Theresa May
Government policies have led to huge rise in malnutrition – again