Bonus for 30,000 Southampton Pensioners & Carers
January 29th 2009
Southampton’s two Labour MPs, Alan Whitehead and John Denham, today welcomed a new cash boost for 31,430* local pensioners which is being paid with their pension. The bonus, together with the increased winter fuel payments and the increases in the basic pension, is likely to far exceed the 10% discount that the Conservative City Council proposes for some pensioners and will go to all pensioners, not just the better-off ones included in the Council scheme.
Following the coldest start to winter in thirty years, the MPs today met Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell to discuss the unique payment of £60 to pensioners.
John Denham, MP for Southampton Itchen, said:
"I'm pleased that the Government has realised that older people need help and it’s right that we've invested this extra cash.
Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, added:
"£60 might not be a lottery win, but it will be a real bonus in every pension this month."
This help is in addition to the extra £4bn which will be spent on pensioners this year, announced by the Chancellor in the pre-budget report. This means the biggest increase in the State Pension since 2001, bringing it from £90 to £95 a week, and the biggest increase in Pension Credit since it was introduced, so that no pensioner need live on less than £130 a week from April.
Speaking after a special meeting with Alan Whitehead and John Denham in the House of Commons, James Purnell, Labour's Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said:
“I know from talking to Alan and John that they are concerned that older people in Southampton are facing tough times and that's why we are making this real help available.
Alan Whitehead said:
"The Tories say we should do nothing to help people in Southampton but we've ignored them and are putting an extra £60 in every pensioner’s pocket, alongside their increased Winter Fuel Payments.”
John Denham added:
“It’s not just pensioners who will get this bonus – a total of 42,350* people in our two constituencies will get this extra cash to help with their bills, including 1050* parents of young and disabled children. That’s real help for these tough times.”
*Figures are combined for Southampton Test and Southampton Itchen constituencies and do not include the parts of Southampton covered by the Romsey Parliamentary constituency.
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More information
- The £60 bonus will go to every pensioner and also to carers, disabled people and those in receipt of bereavement benefits over the next two months.
- The Christmas bonus has been paid in two instalments – all recipients should have received £10 in December, as in previous years, with the additional £60 to be paid out to pensioners early this year. The majority of State Pension customers should receive the £60 payment in January 2009 automatically added to their pension.
- The Labour government is spending £575m on increased Winter Fuel Payments this year, with someone aged between 60 and 79 will receiving £250, and £400 for households with someone 80 and over. The Tories never made Winter Fuel Payments.
- The state pension will increased from £90 to £95 per week.
- Labour has made it easier and quicker for those eligible for Pensions Credit to get the help they are entitled to, without the need to fill in any forms. This will ensure no pensioner is living on less than £130 per week- £198 for couples (from April 09). In 1997 the poorest pensioners lived on £69 a week
- Cold Weather Payments have also been increased from £8.50 to £25 per week for winter 2008/09. They are paid to everybody on Pensioner Credit, as well as other vulnerable people, when the average temperature where the recipient lives is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days during the period from 1 November to 31 March.