Government figures obtained by Sir Menzies Campbell MP show that as many as 2,000 pensioners living in North East Fife could be missing out on receiving Cold Weather Payments triggered by the recent bad weather.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit. It is paid when temperatures are below zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days.

Up to 1.7 million pensioners in the United Kingdom are missing payments worth an estimated £42.5 million.

Commenting, Sir Menzies said:

“During a period of extended bad weather Cold Weather Payments are a lifeline to people on low incomes who are already struggling to pay their usual heating bills. If pensioners are to heat their homes adequately during such periods, they must have the reassurance that they will be financially supported.

“In the short-term the Government must do all it can to identify those pensioners who qualify for this payment. In the long-term they must simplify the benefits system so that vulnerable people can more easily access the financial support due to them.”

Commenting on the news that the basic state pension will rise by only £2.40 per week next April, North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said:

“Next April the majority of pensioners in North East Fife will see their pensions rise by a paltry 34p per day. This dismal increase will do nothing to help them cope with unfair council tax bills and rising food and fuel costs.

“We have a moral obligation to ensure those who have worked hard all their lives are rewarded with a respectable standard of living. There is an urgent need to restore the earnings link.”

Liberalism has always been and should be about enterprise, competition, free trade and open markets.

I am part of that tradition whose economic liberalism, of course, we have to balance with a concern for the environmental impact of economic activity, the need for properly funded public services and a fair distribution of rewards.

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