Published: Tuesday, 19th January, 2010 9:30am

Pensioners miss out on cold weather payments

BORDERS MP Michael Moore has hit out at Ministers after figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats revealed that thousands of pensioners in the Borders who qualify for benefits are missing out on essential cold weather payments.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit. Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions for 2007-08 (the most recent available) show that between 1.1m and 1.7m pensioners across the UK who are poor enough to qualify for Pension Credit do not claim.

In the Borders, 3155 pensioners eligible for the Pension Credit did not claim the benefit over this period. This means that despite the recent snow, they will not receive Cold Weather Payments to help meet the cost of heating their homes.

In 2009, Mr Moore campaigned successfully for the weather stations used to determine cold weather payments for thousands of homes across the Borders to be changed to ensure that temperatures across the region were monitored accurately throughout the winter.

Commenting, Mr Moore said: "Although we are now in a situation where the need for cold weather payments can be measured more accurately, this will not help to the thousands of pensioners in the Borders entitled to payouts who do not claim them at present.

"For many years I have argued that the existing system of benefits and pension credits on offer to older people in the Borders is far too complicated, preventing people getting the help they need instead of making it easy to claim essential financial assistance.

"With high energy bills a real concern for many people in the Borders this winter, these shocking figures illustrate clearly the extent of the Government's failure to provide help to those who require it the most."