Yesterday, 16 April, Stephen spoke at Independent Age UK’s event “Pensioner Poverty: What the next Government should do.” Stephen urged the Government to raise awareness of Pension Credit to help reduce poverty.
Independent Age UK is running a campaign called “two million too many” to raise awareness of the 2.2 million pensioners in relative poverty. Yesterday, as part of the campaign, Stephen spoke about pensioner poverty on a panel organised by Independent Age.
Stephen argued that the proportion of pensioners living in poverty is too high. He noted that pensioner poverty had, until 2015, been declining for over a decade. Stephen urged the Government to make greater use of Pension Credit to tackle poverty.
“The tools to reduce pensioner poverty are available to the Government,” Stephen said after the event. “Sadly, the DWP is not making enough use of them. If everyone who was eligible for Pension Credit received it, pensioner poverty would be much lower than it is now. The Government must increase up-take.”
Pension Credit is a means-tested benefit for low-income pensioners. However, data from the Department for Work and Pensions shows only 63% of those entitled to Pension Credit receive it. Research from Loughbrough University found that, if everyone who was eligible for it received it, pensioner poverty would be at least five percentage points lower than it is now.
Last year, 2.2 million pensioners - 19% of all pensioners - were in relative poverty before housing costs. This is the highest proportion since 2008/09, when it was 20%. Pensioners are still less likely to be in poverty than children (22%) or people with disabilities (20%).