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Hundreds of thousands of pensioners across the UK will receive an increase of less than £1 per week next year, and some couples may receive as little as 60p. This news will surprise many senior citizens, as many of them were promised as much as a £2.85 per week increase in their benefits. This sudden, unexpected reduction is bound to create a number of hardships among the older population across the nation.

While the exact number of people impacted is still being calculated, this cut to pension incomes may impact over one million low income individuals. The new wages will go into effect in April, and it will hurt those who can least afford it, as many of the families impacted are already living in poverty.

Most of this is being caused by the freezing of the pension credit, which really benefited the poor in the UK. So older people that received additional funds from this credit in the past in order to help top up their income will not not have an increase come April.

Scale of hit to pension payments

Both individuals and couples will be impacted. As many as 600,000 couples will have an increase of just 60p. This will not even allow them to buy one small item of food at the grocery store, and it does not allow them to keep up with increasing costs of bills. With thousands of elderly already in fuel poverty or turning to food banks, the reduction in their pension credit will put even more at risk.

As another example of the increases that will go into effect, pensioner aged 65 and older will get an addition 87p, if they previously earned between £120 and £190. Others that earned more than that will get 60p per week. This is much less than what was promised to them, which was just under £3 per week. So the amount of the increase is very small.

Some MPs are stating that the Department for Work and Pensions will be unfairly treating struggling pensioners that have a low income. Many of these people pinched their income over the years to try to save for retirement, and were depending on the government to help fill the gap in what they couldn’t save due to their lower education.

Now, when they need to support from DPW that they were promised, it is not there for them. The government is also breaking a promise by cutting the increase to less than what they were promised. The safety net tat the elderly were counting on being there for them when they retired is failing them.

Department for Work and Pensions states this freezing of the credit is required in order for the nation to gets it budget back on track, and due to the economic climate, it is required. However this is just one more challenged that the elderly are faced with, and it is another reduction in the entitlement system that is hurting the most vulnerable across the UK.