6,000 city pensioners miss out on cold weather help

5.01.56pm GMT Thu 14th Jan 2010

Thousands of local pensioners are losing out

Over 6,000 Plymouth pensioners are estimated to be missing out on a cold weather payment because they aren't claiming Pension Credit to which they are entitled.

The £25 per week cold weather payment is made to people like pensioners who are on low incomes so that they do not worry about the cost of heating their homes during very cold weather. The payments are only made if the temperature in an area averages zero degrees Celsius or less for seven consecutive days. Temperatures have been this low in Plymouth, so local pensioners qualify.

The Government itself estimates that up to 1.7 million pensioners nationwide are entitled to Pension Credit but have not claimed for it. That means they lose out on the extra £25 cold weather payment that is paid automatically to those who receive Pension Credit. The estimated number of pensioners living in the Plymouth Devonport parliamentary constituency who are losing out is 3,275. In Plymouth Sutton, it is 2,740. The total for the two constituencies is 6,015.

Commenting, Dr Judy Evans, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Plymouth Sutton & Devonport, said, "After a lifetime of working in the healthcare sector I am only too aware of the difficulties many people have in getting through such a complicated claims system. If I am elected to Parliament, one of my first priorities will be to try to get such systems simplified. That is the very least we should be doing for our pensioners."

Stuart Bonar, the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Plymouth Moor View, added, "It is a scandal that pensioners on the breadline are missing out on these payments. Labour has failed pensioners by creating a system so complicated that thousands find it so difficult they are missing out on the help they so desperately need."

Pensioners who want to check if they can claim Pension Credit and the automatic cold weather payment that goes with it should call the Pension Service on 0800 991234. Lines are open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.