Changes to winter fuel payments: will older people be left in the cold?

Rumours abound today that the winter fuel payment is set to be limited to those on the lowest incomes, and that the age limit will rise. This is a tricky one – while we can see that focusing the payment on those with genuine need does make sense, and it is reasonable to raise the age at which people receive it to when they retire or reach State Pension Age, we also know how essential this allowance is to so many older people. At Independent Age we have witnessed first-hand how older people can be extremely vulnerable in cold weather.

Means-testing the payment could mean it won’t reach all of those that need it most. We already know that too many older people don’t claim their entitlements, and surely the most vulnerable should be protected. But fuel costs have also risen so dramatically in recent years that they have disproportionately affected many older people, including those on middle as well as lower incomes. Removing the payment for people in both these groups could too easily mean the choice between fuel and food.

Independent Age speaks out against the Default Retirement Age

Independent Age was quoted in a Department of Work and Pensions Report titled Review of the Retirement Age: Summary of the Stakeholder Evidence. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we do not support the default retirement age, when there are many healthy older people who want to carry on contributing in the workplace.

No one should be forced into retirement because of their date of birth--that's ageism. Our full position is up on our website here, or you can read the full government report here. (It's 61 pages--we're on page 44 and page 58.)

Older than what?

By Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications

Went to an interesting seminar today run by the nice people at Forster on communicating with older people. ‘Older people’ seems to have become the most common way of describing people who a few years ago would have been ‘pensioners’ or ‘senior citizens’ or just ‘old people’.

But it struck me today that I have no idea what it is that they are ‘older’ than. I thought at first it must be older than the average age but The Office for National Statistics says the average age in the UK is 39. Since no one includes 40-year-olds in the category ‘older people’ (Independent Age helps those over 70 though some organisations set the bar as low as 50) we are clearly not meaning ‘older than the average’.

So what do we mean? Older than me? Older than you? Older than the age a typical police officer looks? I have a terrible suspicion we mean ‘old’ but are saying older’ because it sounds nicer.

photo posed by model, courtesy of hortongrou at www.sxc.hu

Volunteers Wanted for the Summer Pop Picnic Party, Bedfordshire, 22 August

We're offering free entry to the show and a backstage pass for volunteers who will help us with a bucket collection at the Summer Pop Picnic Party in Shuttleworth, Bedfordshire on Sunday 22 August.

photo by Phil Guest from Wikimedia Commons

On the bill are X-Factor winners Diversity, ASWAD, and Jason Donovan (above, although admittedly looking more literary than rock'n'roll) as well as many others. For the full lineup and more details, click here. If you have an hour to spare mid-afternoon, email Harriet Steele and come along!

Mayor Boris Johnson clowns around at London Older People's Assembly; Pensions Minister Steve Webb gets serious

Simon Bottery, Director of Policy and Communications, writes:

I am not going to attempt to guess what Pensions Minister Steve Webb was thinking yesterday when he was publicly chastised by Boris Johnson during the annual London Older People’s Assembly at City Hall.

Along with a few hundred other people, I sat and watched as Boris demanded to know whether the minister had arrived for the meeting by public transport and then, on ‘discovering’ that he had not, roundly condemned him for it. With that, and few well chosen jokes about Ken Livingstone, Boris was off, leaving Webb to fume alone.

Boris Johnson at another event, with a model of his favourite bus

photo by Jerry Daykin from Wikimedia Commons

Webb opted to stay and face the questions of a lot of active, and in some cases angry, older Londoners. In fairness he did a decent job of it (though he was never asked the question that Lizzie Irons of Citizens Advice later posed: how many older Londoners will have to move when the coalition government’s cap on local housing allowance comes into force next year?). He also announced an ‘Ageing Well’ initiative, which aims to encourage local authorities to share best practice in providing for older people in their communities.

You can read more about the London Older People's Assembly Group at their website.

Art for Independent Age's sake

An Art and Sculpture Exhibition was held at Glemham Hall, Suffolk on 31st July / 1st August. The weather stayed fine and Rosemary Buisseret and one of her volunteers (and artist) Vanessa Stollery worked very hard coordinating the artwork, teas and stalls. Money is still being counted, but so far almost £2,000 has been raised for Independent Age. Here are some of the works that were on show:

Yew Trees by Elaine Alderson

Guinness by Vanessa Stollery

Beach Huts by Christopher Humphries

Thanks to everyone who made this day such a success, and to all of the artists who took part. You can see a list of all who participated here.