IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR PENSIONERS
‘€20, not €12, would boost confidence for elderly’, say charity
PENSIONERS who leave their homes during the day to avoid high energy costs have not received the reassurance they need in the Budget, groups representing older people have warned.
A €12 weekly rise in the pension; an expansion of criteria for the Fuel Allowance; one-off payments for those on the Fuel Allowance and Living Alone Allowance; and electricity credits for all households were among the measures announced to help older people.
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath said: ‘A single pensioner, living alone, in receipt of fuel allowance will receive an additional €2,375 between now and the end of 2023 as a result of the announcements I am making today.’
Many older people are in line for
‘Older people are turning off fridges’
one-off payments of over €1,100 before the end of the year, including two double payments of the State pension.
Pensioners in receipt of the Living Alone allowance will receive a separate €200 payment, while those claiming the Fuel Allowance are in line for once-off €400 lump sum on top of their usual rate.
The Fuel Allowance scheme has been extended to up to 80,000 people who currently do not qualify for the payment.
This will mean that around 450,000 people will be able to claim the welfare payment over the coming months. In addition, there will be a special once-off €500 payment for carers and people with disabilities.
However, Seán Moynihan, chief executive of ALONE, cautioned: ‘A €12 increase in the pension is simply not enough to keep up with the increased costs caused by inflation – it doesn’t even enable people to stand still.
‘While one-off supports are welcome, they do not make up the difference in what was needed in core welfare increases.’
He continued: ‘We work with older people who are turning off their fridges and pendant alarms, who are selling off items to support themselves, who are spending their days in shopping centres and on trains to avoid the cost of having to heat their homes.
‘An extra €12 per week will not reassure those people in January. We needed increases to the pension and other supports at the level of €20 and above in order to provide any sort of financial stability for older people.’
The organisation welcomed the significant expansion of eligibility for the Fuel Allowance, which sees the income threshold increased, enabling more older people to be eligible for the support.
However, Mr Moynihan said that he was concerned that the Fuel Allowance itself has not been increased, nor has the Fuel Allowance season been increased from 28 weeks. The one-off payments of €400 for those in receipt of the Fuel Allowance amount to a weekly rise of €14, the organisation noted – significantly less than the additional €20 per week and increase from 28week to 35-week Fuel Allowance season that the organisation had called for.
Similarly, the one-off payment of €200 for those who are in receipt of the Living Alone allowance amounts to a weekly increase of less than €4 – again, a significant shortfall compared to the €20 requested.
ALONE encouraged older people to make use of other supports such as Additional Needs Payments and the vulnerable customers’ registers held by electricity companies to help them throughout the winter season.
Nat O’Connor, policy specialist at Age Action, said the Budget was a welcome recognition that older people have been struggling with the basics – but he also said it did not go far enough.
One-off payments will help people get through this winter, he said, but the €12 increase in the pension will be eaten away by the increasing cost of living.
Mr O’Connor said people simply do not have the same spending power they had a year ago, and that those on the State pension were seeing their private savings erode rapidly.
Active Retirement Ireland, the country’s largest representative organisation for older people, also believe that the winter fuel allowance will not go far enough for older people after two increases in gas and electricity costs in 2022 alone. The organisation’s chief executive, Maureen Kavanagh, said: ‘The €12 weekly increase in the State pension, while below the rate of inflation, is still a welcome measure.
However, for many older people the winter fuel allowance will not go far enough as they struggle to manage their tight household budgets. ‘The fuel allowance would need to be doubled if it was to have any real impact on the day-to-day lives of our older people. Similarly, we welcome the scrapping of hospital inpatient charges, but this doesn’t go far enough for the most vulnerable. ‘We need to see the charge for blood tests and prescription costs scrapped in order to make healthcare more affordable.’