Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Pensioners: Cost of Living

Monday 13 May 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government have provided total support of over 108 billion to help households and individuals with higher bills.
  • The basic state pension has gone up by 8.5% this year.
  • The Trussell Trust reports a 36% rise in pensioners turning to food banks in the past six months.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Deidre Brock SNP
Benefits & Welfare
Context

The question arises from concerns over the adequacy of support provided to pensioners facing increased costs.

Question

What recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of support for pensioners with increases in the cost of living?

Answer from Paul Maynard

The Government have provided total support of over £108 billion to help households and individuals with higher bills. The basic state pension has gone up by 8.5% this year.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific assessment on adequacy of support for pensioners was not addressed, only general financial aid figures given.

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Q2 Richard Burgon Lab Leeds East
Benefits & Welfare Women & Equalities
Context

A poll indicates that two thirds of people think the government should urgently pay fair compensation to WASPI women, who were affected by changes in state pension age. The parliamentary ombudsman's report has been pending.

Question

But a new poll today shows that two thirds of people think the Government should urgently pay fair compensation to all WASPI women, including many in east Leeds, who were hit by the change to the state pension age. It has been over six weeks since the Secretary of State got the parliamentary ombudsman's final report, but nearly three years since the ombudsman said that the Department for Work and Pensions had committed maladministration through its failure to properly inform affected women of the state pension age changes. With a WASPI woman dying every 13 minutes, time is not on their side. When will the Government stop dragging their feet? To help ensure justice, will the Government allow MPs to vote on a compensation package before the summer?

Answer from Paul Maynard

The hon. Gentleman has heard the Secretary of State reply at great length to a number of questions on that subject today. We are looking carefully at the report and considering what is a very complex set of recommendations and proposals to make sure that we do the right thing.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Commitment to action or timeline for compensation was not provided, only acknowledgment of review process.

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Q3 Deidre Brock SNP
Benefits & Welfare
Context

Concerns about pensioners turning to food banks due to financial difficulties are raised. The UK devotes a smaller percentage of GDP to state pensions compared to other advanced economies.

Question

Ministers certainly seem to prefer the comfort of their own massaged figures to facts. The Trussell Trust, however, says it has seen a 36% rise in pensioners turning to food banks in the past six months, and that is likely to increase. The hard fact is that the UK devotes a smaller percentage of GDP to state pensions and pensioner benefits than most other advanced economies. When will they take pensioner poverty seriously and fix this scandal?

Answer from Paul Maynard

The households below average income statistics, which are cleared by the Office for National Statistics, show that 1% of low-income pensioners live in a household that has accessed a food bank within 12 months. Given all the effort we are putting into the ongoing campaign to increase access to pension credit and the success that campaign is having, I am very confident that we will make continued progress in reducing pensioner poverty.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific plan or timeline for addressing pensioner poverty was not provided, only general effort mentioned.

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