It seems clear that Labour must extend the Pension Credit application deadline or be tarred as incompetent.
The government has said that anyone applying for Pension Credit who wants to receive this year’s Winter Fuel Payment must do so before 11.59pm today (Saturday, December 21, 2024).
Around 150,000 applications have been received since July, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that Winter Fuel Payments would be handed out only to people on Pension Credit in the future – meaning that, according to the government’s own calculations, at least 730,000 people who are eligible have not yet applied.
This could be because the deadline was not widely publicised. Did you know that there was one?
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Complicating matters further is the fact that the Department for Work and Pensions has a backlog of at least 91,000 applications and is only processing around 9,000 per week, despite having taken on around 500 extra staff to speed up the service – and the suggestion that only around 45 per cent of claims are being approved.
So even where people have applied, their claim is more likely to be rejected than approved – and even if it is approved, that is not likely to happen until long after the winter is over.
The assurance that claims will be backdated will be no comfort for the families of people who will have either starved to death because they chose to heat their homes rather than buy food, or (more likely) frozen to death because they bought food but could not afford to put their heating on.
This is a cock-up worthy of a Conservative government. Extending the deadline is the absolute minimum that Labour can do to make an awful situation less worse.
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Labour must extend the Pension Credit application deadline or be tarred as incompetent
It seems clear that Labour must extend the Pension Credit application deadline or be tarred as incompetent.
The government has said that anyone applying for Pension Credit who wants to receive this year’s Winter Fuel Payment must do so before 11.59pm today (Saturday, December 21, 2024).
Around 150,000 applications have been received since July, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that Winter Fuel Payments would be handed out only to people on Pension Credit in the future – meaning that, according to the government’s own calculations, at least 730,000 people who are eligible have not yet applied.
This could be because the deadline was not widely publicised. Did you know that there was one?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Complicating matters further is the fact that the Department for Work and Pensions has a backlog of at least 91,000 applications and is only processing around 9,000 per week, despite having taken on around 500 extra staff to speed up the service – and the suggestion that only around 45 per cent of claims are being approved.
So even where people have applied, their claim is more likely to be rejected than approved – and even if it is approved, that is not likely to happen until long after the winter is over.
The assurance that claims will be backdated will be no comfort for the families of people who will have either starved to death because they chose to heat their homes rather than buy food, or (more likely) frozen to death because they bought food but could not afford to put their heating on.
This is a cock-up worthy of a Conservative government. Extending the deadline is the absolute minimum that Labour can do to make an awful situation less worse.
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:
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