TRUSS ENERGY PACKAGE FAILS OLDER PEOPLE (BRIEFING 42/22)

The Prime Minister’s energy statement today offered no extra help for struggling state pensioner households and indeed there was no direct mention of older people at all. 

Silver Voices made the following immediate statement to the national media: 

“Fixing the energy cap £500 above its current level, without increasing the basic income of millions of state pensioners, is embedding a permanent cut in living standards and will not prevent a cost-of-living crisis this winter. State pensioners are being expected to survive until next April on a 3.1% rise in their pensions, when inflation will remain in double figures. Older people cannot afford the current energy prices, and many have already turned off their heating forever, but they are also being buffeted by soaring price rises in foods and household essentials which the Government package does not address. From bleach to baked beans, and from toilet rolls to tomatoes, essential goods are now unaffordable on millions of pensioner budgets. Contrast this package with the situation in France, where the average state pension at £1300 per month is 75% higher than ours and yet energy prices have also been capped at 4%. The Truss package protects those on medium and high incomes but will not prevent a full-blown humanitarian crisis this winter.”

As details of the government’s approach emerges, further analysis will follow. There was a welcome announcement that a fund would be set up to provide equivalent support for those living in mobile home parks and with communal living arrangements, and those who rely on oil and liquid gas heating. How people will access this fund is unclear. Similarly, the PM confirmed that “the benefits” would also apply to the separate Northern Ireland energy market, although the devil will be in the detail. There is to be an equivalent six month guarantee on energy prices for schools, public services and businesses, a pledge which requires further clarification. 

There is considerable political controversy that the cost of freezing the cap will be picked up by taxpayers through increased debt, rather than at least partly by raising windfall taxes on the excess profits of the energy giants. However, our main focus for now must be on the plight of the many millions of older people whose main source of income is the state pension and how they will get through the winter. 

8 September 2022

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