- Conference
- 2022 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 17 May 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes that in 2022 energy giants Shell and BP made a combined profit of £40 billion while at the same time around 1 million older households were experiencing fuel poverty. It is estimated that rising fuel prices will push an extra 150,000 older households into fuel poverty by the coming winter.
Conference further notes that the highest inflation rate in 30 years (April 2022) means that the cost of many staple foods has soared leaving older people to make the difficult choice between paying for heat or buying sufficient food to eat. Three-quarters of over 65s surveyed by Age UK (the equivalent of 9.4 million people in the UK) said they were worried about being able to pay bills and a quarter (the equivalent of 3.1 million people in the UK) said they would have to choose between heating and the food they buy if their energy bills increased substantially.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many older people live in older, harder-to-heat homes.
Affordable heating is essential to older people and could reduce the 20,000 “excess winter deaths” which occur every year.
Conference is pleased to note that UNISON’s welfare charity ‘There For You’ provide winter fuel grants which consist of a one-off payment of up to £40.
Conference also notes that although the government provides Winter Fuel Payment worth up to £300, Warm Home Discount worth £140 and a Cold Weather Payment of £25, these have not been increased in recent years to deal with soaring fuel prices.
Conference notes that older people can develop a disability as a result of ageing. This leads to further expenditure to purchase items such as mobility scooters, chair lifts etc. to enable older people to live a full life.
This conference believes that the Government must address the living cost crisis for elderly citizens who are most vulnerable to the cold during winter and help them to heat their homes with reduced prices or increased benefits.
Therefore, this Conference calls on the National Retired Members’ Committee to work with UNISON’s National Executive Council, National Pensioners’ Convention, Trades Union Congress and other appropriate organisations such as Age UK to influence the Government to:
1)Encourage take-up of pension credit by the 4 in 10 pensioners who are eligible for it but do not receive it;
2. Restore payment of pension credit to households with one person over the age of 60;
3. Increase benefits that help with heating to address the fact that the Winter Fuel Payment and Warm Home Discount have remained the same for 10 years and the Cold Weather Payment has not changed since 2008;
4. Take measures so that the DWP urgently identify and reimburse people who are being underpaid state pension;
5. Enshrine the energy price cap in law in the shorter term, and then move to re-introduce a social tariff into the energy market to offer protection against high energy costs in the medium term;
6. Introduce a windfall tax for energy companies making enormous profits.