Steve Webb MP

Minister of State for Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions

Caxton House

Tothill Street

London SW1H 9DA

Date: 4^th November 2014

Dear Steve,

I am writing in support of the Age UK campaign to end pensioner poverty. 1.6 million pensioners live on or below the poverty line, and whilst the numbers of pensioners living on a low income has gradually been going down, Age UK found that in recent years progress has stalled.

They’ve identified a number of problems and solutions, starting with the need for a Pensioner Poverty strategy, which should:

• Introduce targets for reducing pensioner poverty.
• Bring all pensioners into the new-single tier pension.
• Put the ‘triple lock’ principle into legislation and extend it to all elements of the State pension.
• Reduce the complexity of the forms that carers have to complete to receive additional financial support.
• Introduce a national training programme for health professionals and local authority staff so they can identify older people at particular risk of falling into poverty;   understand why older people are reluctant to claim; know how to refer older people to independent welfare benefits advice.

Age UK have also found that older people  are not taking up the full range of benefits available to them,  with a massive amount – up to £5.5 billion - going unclaimed  each year. In order to increase benefit take up they recommend promoting pensioner benefits; changing the way benefits are administered to help older people to claim; and  encouraging local authority and NHS staff to improve signposting.

They also stress the importance of making funding available, so that there is capacity among providers of independent welfare benefits advice to deal with increased referrals; and of the Government giving proper consideration to how today’s pensioners can be brought into the new single-tier State Pension without losing the rights they have already built up.

Please will you let my constituents and I know what steps you are taking to end pensioners’ poverty, with specific reference to the recommendations contained in Age UK’s report, a copy of which is available here: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/endpensionerpoverty

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,