This is a copy of a document sent to the DWP on 29th
February 2016.
The Subject concerns the
Statutory Instrument 2014 no. 3270 tabled before Parliament 15th December 2014. This removes payment of the WFP within 6
countries and Gibraltar.
Reference your FoI reply 360 of 26th February 2016,
Attention – P.Lapraik, Work, Welfare and Wellbeing
later in Life Division within the DWP.
Dear Mr Lapraik
You have
experience of producing official booklets for ‘At-risk groups including older
people with pre-existing medical conditions as well as those whose health,
housing or economic circumstances put them at greater risk of harm from cold
weather.’ I am aware the booklets were
drawn up to care for older people in England,
however, it seems to me the advice should apply to all British Citizens in
receipt of a UK State Pension.
The two booklets pay attention to the negative
health effects starting at relatively moderate outdoor mean temperatures of
4-8°C; and refer to the geographical distribution of cold weather as not being
uniform. Low temperatures tend to be more severe in rural and exposed areas,
occurring earlier in some parts of the country than others.
You were
involved in the development and application of a policy, which declared an
average winter temperature for the whole of France
of 7.0°C, when you knew 19 of 22 Regions of France were below that figure, and
15 of them were below that of SW England. The outcome has been damaging for numerous
British pensioners in other States of the EU as you will discover as you read
towards the end of this document after I have commented on the reply to
question four of my FoI request.
In this mail I seek an internal
review of my FoI 360 request, for I find the reply which I have received unsatisfactory.
I respond in turn to each of the answers to my
questions.
Reply
Question One. 1. To state what was the objective in
drawing up this S.I.?
Your reply refers me to the
S.I. note & memorandum The
memorandum states
“Ministers
are concerned about paying Winter Fuel Payments in EEA countries where the
weather is generally warmer than the UK.
Therefore, DWP has considered ways of ensuring that the payment is
better targeted on people who live in countries with a cold climate.”
The following answer (TWO) implies that this is
incorrect. For that reply states - “Other methods of making off-setting
savings in public expenditure were considered”.
Although the memorandum states that the objective
reason is otherwise, this is an obfuscation, for the true objective reason is a
cost saving measure.
Do you agree or not
that the objective reason is a cost saving measure?
Briefing from the DWP led both the
Prime Minister’s Office, and that of the then Chairman of the Conservative
Party to write to many complainants, that the DWP was: “broadly offsetting the cost of a recent European court judgement which
stated that the Government must pay Winter Fuel Payment to EEA citizens who
have a "genuine and sufficient link" with the UK”. This
is clearly saying that the measure was intended as a cost-saving proposal. Does
this not indicate that the DWP has the intention to circumnavigate around the EU regulations on the protection of the
aged to achieve this objective? The memorandum in so many words admits that
this was the intention.
Reply
Question Two 2. Which other methods of
achieving that objective were considered?
Your reply clearly says
that my question is not going to be answered.
I wish to explore this because it is central to discovering the reasons
for the S.I. I think we can agree, can
we not, that the objective reason is a cost saving measure. On that basis what other measures were
considered to cut the costs?
Did the DWP research
the possibility of including the WFP as an integral part of the State Pension,
perhaps as a higher winter supplement to it?
Did the DWP consider
dropping the WFP altogether?
Did the DWP
consider means testing of the WFP?
? others?
Reply
Question Three 3. Why was the temperature criterion selected to achieve this objective?
The question is asking ---
What led the DWP to latch onto the idea of a temperature test? i..e.
To cut the costs!
Again the answer throws one
back to the Explanatory memorandum. That
reveals no further information on this question.
It says -DWP is aware there
will be people who live in cold regions of “warm” countries who will not be
eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment.
The welfare of the individual citizen was considered of
lesser worth than the convenience of the administration. An attempt has been made to search for loop
holes or weaknesses in EU law to save costs, with disregard for the impact
on numerous British Citizens. Do you not
agree?
Reply
question Four . 4. What investigation or
investigations were carried out to consider the potential impact of this
temperature criterion on the poorer British Citizen
State pensioners resident
in the seven EU States and dependency affected by this S.I.?
What investigations were carried out etc – i.e. impact
assessments? You admit that none at
all were carried out, do you not?
The aforesaid Explanatory
note states
“A full impact assessment has
not been produced for these Regulations as they have no impact on the private
sector or civil society organisations.”
You send to me in answer the Equality Analysis
relating to restricting eligibility to Winter Fuel Payments in the EEA – Which
is indeed not a full impact statement for the reply itself admits that the DWP
has not considered the socio-economic implications of the S.I.
That Equality Act States –"An authority
must….have due regard to the desirability of exercising them in a way that is
designed to reduce the inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic
disadvantage."
Whatever the statement in the reply “Please note that socio-economic status is not a
protected characteristic under section 149 (public sector equality duty) of the
Equality Act 2010” is meant to convey…..
I cannot read anything in the Equality Act 2010 which
justifies the exclusion of appropriate consideration of the impact of this S.I.
on the weak, the aged, and the disabled, citizens. It specifically states that AGE is a protected characteristic.
[Postscript to this on 20/03/2016 – Mr. Lapraik’s report on the relation between the
Equality Act 2010 states Age Impact There is no evidence to suggest that there will be
any impact on people on the basis
of their age. The change does not affect the age at which a customer will be
entitled to a WFP.]
One might argue that the SI
selectively targets certain groups of
aged citizens and that as such it is contrary to the spirit of the
Equality Act.]
I give below some extracts of information which I hold
of such impacts which demonstrate unequivocally the deleterious impacts on some
citizens resident in other States of the EU. They demonstrate only too well the
manner in which the DWP fails to obey the requirements of the Equality Act with
regard to welfare of the elderly.
I ask for you to fully consider the matters I draw to your attention and consider the consequences of continuing the actions which the DWP have established.
Is it not the responsibility of your division within the DWP to recommend measures for the well being of the aged British Citizens?
I ask for you to fully consider the matters I draw to your attention and consider the consequences of continuing the actions which the DWP have established.
Is it not the responsibility of your division within the DWP to recommend measures for the well being of the aged British Citizens?
1 --- 10/02/2012 20:03
Good Evening
Mr Cave.
Just as I was yesterday, I am typing Emails sitting up in bed. I am fully clothed in three jumpers, two pairs of trousers and a track suit.
My dear husband, similarly dressed, is tucked up beside me. He is eighty-six, and suffers from epilepsy and a certain amount of mental confusion.
Outside the temperature is minus 2 degrees, and is expected to fall to minus 10 degrees tonight - a big improvement on the
minus 14 degrees we had last night.
We retired to bed at three o'clock this afternoon, when my husband found that crouching over our log-burner became too much strain
on his back. The only room we can afford to keep warm is our bedroom, where we can use our electric blanket
plus a paraffin stove for warmth. Our house has an antiquated central heating system which has broken down - and we can't afford to repair
or replace it.
My husband served his country during the war, and worked all his life thereafter without claiming a day's unemployment benefit.
He finally retired at seventy.
Just as I was yesterday, I am typing Emails sitting up in bed. I am fully clothed in three jumpers, two pairs of trousers and a track suit.
My dear husband, similarly dressed, is tucked up beside me. He is eighty-six, and suffers from epilepsy and a certain amount of mental confusion.
Outside the temperature is minus 2 degrees, and is expected to fall to minus 10 degrees tonight - a big improvement on the
minus 14 degrees we had last night.
We retired to bed at three o'clock this afternoon, when my husband found that crouching over our log-burner became too much strain
on his back. The only room we can afford to keep warm is our bedroom, where we can use our electric blanket
plus a paraffin stove for warmth. Our house has an antiquated central heating system which has broken down - and we can't afford to repair
or replace it.
My husband served his country during the war, and worked all his life thereafter without claiming a day's unemployment benefit.
He finally retired at seventy.
2 -- 15/02/2012
Like your
correspondent, we moved to France sixteen years ago, the year before the
Winter Fuel Payment was instituted. Since then, we have met many British
expats, most of whom arrived in France more than six years after ourselves, and
they, of course, do receive this allowance. Whilst we do not, of course,
hold this against them; good luck to them - I'm glad they get it. But it is
this blatant discrimination by the British government, resulting in the older,
more frail (and in many cases, poorer) pensioners being the ones to whom this
vital heating allowance is denied and this really upsets me. It beggars
belief and I am absolutely astonished that those in successive governments have
been unable to see this, not to mention their breaking of European rules (as
outlined by the British Expats Association, Spain, and yourself, on many
occasions).
Like most of our
friends, when we arrived in France aged 60, we were in good health.
However, as we all know, as the years go on, many of us are beset by
various illnesses and the frailty of old age. I have had several
operations and many investigations in hospital for various internal and
ophthalmic problems. My husband had a hip replacement three years ago and
two other operations since then. He was diagnosed with lung cancer a year
ago, for which he is being treated with chemotherapy. He has suffered
horrific and debilitating side effects and I am, of course, at the age of 77,
his only carer. We have no family, either here or in the U.K. There
have been improvements as well as setbacks in the progress of his illness and
further chemotherapy is planned.
As you can imagine,
this past year has been extremely hard on both of us and it is only with the
support of the excellent French health professionals as well as the kindness of
our friends and neighbours (both French and British) that we have managed to
cope. We live on a joint pension income of 12,000 pounds sterling per
annum and have to draw on our very modest savings to supplement this.
Because of our low income, we downsized seven years ago to a tiny, one-bedroomed
house which my husband converted from a carpenter's workshop but his illness
and treatment cause him to feel the cold in the extreme and, in spite of the
size of our house, I dread to think what our heating bill will be this Winter.
It is so dreadfully unfair that we and others in our situation are not
allowed to receive the Winter Fuel Payment from the British government when our
compatriots do! And, of course, there is nothing we can do about it as,
having lived in France for more than fifteen years, we are now disenfranchised as well!
S.E R.
****************
3 -- December 30th 2014
I’m a 74 year old British Pensioner, I have health problems
- high blood pressure placing me in a high risk category of heart attacks and
strokes, requiring beta blocker medication for the rest of my life; and I’m a
thrombophilia sufferer requiring anti-coagulants for the rest of life, which
thin my blood and make me more vulnerable to extreme temperatures. So, it doesn’t matter whether I live in Blarney,
Bristol, Bologna,
Bordeaux or Barcelona,
cold weather will always affect me. OK
if I live in Bologna, Bordeaux
or Barcelona, I may get more
daytime sunshine, particularly in the winter, but night-time in those countries
will be much colder than Blarney or Bristol! A British Pensioner is still a British
Pensioner wherever he/she chooses to live within the EU!
R.B.
4 -- December 31st 2014
Thanks for this Brian - just read my EDF meter which tells me
that my bill for 2 months will be just under 400€ and it will get even colder
over the next 2 months. I'm 70 and I really do feel the cold more and more with
each passing year.
A.
5 -- January 5th 2015
Copied from The Anglo-Info forum site for Normandy.
I came here in 2005, rushing out
of another European country and settled into rural life with difficulty.
At that stage I had health and a car. I had a major car accident in 2010
followed by cancer in 2011 (from which I am supposed to be in "remission",
it might be stabilising) and am now alone trying to deal with the ridiculous
situation that I am far from anywhere and have nothing to eat and also have
difficulties eating and can't stand being on my own . This has nothing to do
with the local people who on the whole are kind to me, although not really
available to deal with this, but everything to do with me. I see no
solutions to this situation at all. I am known to the local social
services and the local community. The supermarkets are 11 to 18 km away, there
is no-one to take me to it and in any case I have been known to walk into and
out of the local supermarket without buying anything. Also home deliveries are
just about possible but not for the quantities I need. There is one bus a
day from a two km walk to the village to one of the
(moribund) towns. I am at least three hours' drive from anyone who
posts on this site (south of Rouen).
I tried to buy some frozen things with the cleaning lady who gone away for more
than a week now. It is insufficient and I am going hungry.
My house is cold. I am
64, taking the cancer drug femara (not chemotherapy) and going mad
here. My doctor is both on strike and doesn't want to know particularly. Also
being "big" going down to a mere 91 kilos recently I have literally
nothing much to wear apart from outsize t shirts which are embarrassingly
like scarecrow stuff on me. I see no solutions.
6 -- January 8th 2014
We live in Burgundy
where winter temperatures vary between minus 10c to minus 20c.
We have already had minus 10c and the coldest part of our
winter is yet to come. My husband is 81, a diabetic and had a stroke 6 years’
ago. I am 71 and in good health but I feel the cold badly. It will be a real
hardship for us not to have the winter fuel allowance.
We are also puzzled by the fact that the UK
has included warmer countries outside France
in the decision to stop our allowance. These countries are not a part of
mainland France
and mainland France
is not affected by their weather patterns. We therefore don’t understand the
logic involved in this current decision at all.
It’s tantamount to saying that, if India
were still a part of the UK,
that no one in the UK
would be eligible either!
D.W.
29 March 2015
7 --
My husband, ******, is 77 years old, he has mobility
problems, sciatica, asthma, insulin dependent diabetes, heart problems, and has
been fighting cancer for 3 years. I have been his 24/7 carer for the last few
years and still am, how dare the government want to strip us of everything we
are entitled to?
I thank you for your support and help on behalf of both of
us
with kindest regards
L.D.
8 - April
19th 2015 Two histories passed on by a Charity
supporter.
ROLAND
This gentleman is aged 90. He joined the RN as
Boy Seaman aged 16. Served in an MTB .Sunk
by enemy on D Day.He suffered severe wounds to his stomach. Was nursed back to
health at the RN Hospital Haslar.
When discharged became schoolmaster, founding a Language
School in the Belgian
Congo & then teaching in Portsmouth.
On retirement in the 1980's he moved to France.
Divorced . Three female children. One dead, others live ouside UK.
Unable to provide funds.
He moved around the Dordogne & South Charente
taking on house sitting jobs or living in rented accomodation. His
capital was diminished by the banking crisis. He became unable to pay his rent.
He was helped by Mrs Susan Patrick until recently, the SSAFA Treasurer for France
. A tower of strength who persuaded his former Masonic Lodge to pay towards his
debts and liaised with the French "Service Publique",who
placed him "sous tutelle" .Therefore his possessions have
been sold & he is now confined in the Maison de Retraite in
Aigre,Charente.His pension is used to pay for his upkeep. I think,but can not
confirm that he has been allowed to keep the Winter Fuel Payment. Which
he will now lose. He does, of course, receive the annual £10 pensioners Xmas
bonus from a grateful British Government!!
9 -- PETER.
Aged 70 plus. Worked for the Sussex CC restoring
artwork in Brighton Pavillion. Very small pension on early retirement. Lives
here in Creyssac,the village where my wife & I have lived for 20
years. The local GP asked us to keep an eye on him some 7 years ago. We found
him living in total squalor . He was very ill. The Pompiers took
him to Perigueux Hospital.
He was in Intensive Care for a week. He was not registered with the Health
Authority( CPAM ) so the Bordeaux Consulate were informed . They asked us to
help. (There is no longer an Honorary Consul in the North Dordogne)
We contacted Newcastle to obtain
the the UK
state Pension for him.They acted promptly,replying to the request for help by
telephone midday on a Sunday. (Bravo)
He lives in a derelict house with no running
water surviving on the two pensions & for the last 2 years the Winter Fuel
Payments that he will now lose.
10 -- April 20th 2015 From a carer who visits an elderly couple.
I carry a
fleece in my car which I put on when I arrive at my client’s house because it
is so cold inside! I pat myself on the back each year when she makes it through
to May again. I buy thermal vests, fleecy dressing gowns & socks for
them for Christmas & birthdays. Her mobility is so bad & the house so
old that I insist they have the heating on 10 months of the year, day
& night (I know they turn it off when I leave & go to bed instead).
11 -- May 7th 2015. (From Telegraph article by Elizabeth Roberts)
Michael Boyd-Carpenter, 83, a retired stockbroker who lives in the Dordogne,
said that while he has enough money to live on he knows of elderly Britons in
his area struggling to make ends meet.
One, a man in his 90s, was wounded
in action during the Second World War. His capital was diminished by the
banking crisis and, unable to pay his rent, he now lives in a state care home.
“I think he has been allowed to keep the
winter fuel payment [so far] but will now lose it,” said Mr Boyd-Carpenter.
“He’s a good example of someone who will suffer. So much for caring for our war
heroes.”
Another, a man in his 70s, subsists
on a small private pension plus the UK
state pension.
“He lives in a derelict house with
no running water surviving on the two pensions and, for the last two years, the
winter fuel payments that he will now lose,” said Mr Boyd-Carpenter.
12 -- August 2nd
2015 from R.M (France)
I live in L Q a small commune in Dept 22 - The winters here
can be bitterly cold and we do have heavy rain, snow and ice - in the beginning
of December and later on in the New Year. It is most uncomfortable and I
am housebound. We have no facilities eg shops, restaurants, mobile shops here
in the commune. I do not drive and have to organise Transport on
Demand - trips to ……. for shopping (have a friend who lives there) etc. I have
to give two days notice but I try and plan ahead and go shopping monthly.
Here are some pictures of the commune.
I have four hot water bottles on standby!!
13 --- 21/08/2015 – from S.F.
My mother-in-law is 86 and lives here and she
uses the WFA for her logs – it covers about half her winter fuel costs and
she’s in S. Portugal
where we can have frosts for 3 months of the year!
14
– 25/08/2015 D.
After
appalling surgery in 1977 I was left with a condition which left me able to do
only light work (from which I had to
retire even earlier than anticipated) & which exempted me from all prescription payments. I lived in the West Country for 25 years
during which time I experienced that number of winters (including being
snowed-in for 2 weeks) and I had to have
fires, boilers, heating appliances in use from October round to the following
May. I seem to remember that it was the
West Country that was sighted as the “levelling post” in terms of temperatures
which deemed the cessation of w.f.payments to many and which is why I mention the fact. When I was 60 I moved to Sthn Spain for my health which, I have to say, has
improved. However, I still cannot go without indoor warmth in
the winter months here, and living in the foothills of the mountains (but only
220 mtrs above sea level yet I was higher than that in the West Country!) still
requires me to have fires during our winter months for my comfort and
health. It should also be recognised
that one´s body becomes acclimatized to the heat of summer and consequently
feels the cold even more so. I buy my
winter fuel supply of burning logs during the summer when they are cheaper, but
one lorry load still costs me €350 so the absence of my winter fuel allowance
is a severe loss to my well-being.
15 – 30/08/2015 SM
Writing to the MP. I
hope I can rely on your Support, as you know my circumstances here are not
ideal renting a poorly maintained property, costing me a fortune in heating
bills, €2,700 € in diesel heating fuel from March 2014,and My electricity bill
has recently been increased to €130 pm, I've had to have electric heating
on in evenings these last few days, due to one of my health conditions,
autoimmune Thyroiditis, now turned to Hashimoto's, of which feeling cold
is one symptom. I am now just 68 this month, poor health and dreading the
winter here, but powerless to do anything, except write to you in hopes of
saving my WFA, and say every little helps!
16 – 5/09/2015 FM
We are pensioners on a very low State pension of around £800
a month which is about half the suggested amount required to live a comfortable
life here in France.We need to heat our property from September through to May.
The average temperatures here in the Charente are 4.5
degrees during the cold winter months, which are below that of the south of England.
Our house temperature does not go above 20 degrees during the winter and we
have struggled to keep warm in previous winters.
17 - 15/09/2015 Copied from a comment on the AngloInfo
forum
We can't vote after 15 years so we don't count. Shame
on them I say. As for me, well my husband is suffering from cancer
and last winter we needed the heating on 24/7 because he'd lost so much weight
he couldn't keep warm. That extra bit of cash helped a great deal.
I know it's not a lot, and having it withdrawn won't stop me burning the extra
oil this winter to keep him warm.. But as folks who are below the tax threshold
it did make a difference.
18 -11 December 2015 I am appalled to learn that Ian Duncan Smith has stopped the Winter Fuel Payment for this year. 2015- I only got last year’s on 9th March this year which left us in dire straits.
I am sitting in the house in a heavy coat typing this as we have NO HEATING and the house is freezing.
I cannot remember the exact degrees government say you need to sit in and bedroom a couple of degrees lower but I found in the UK with housing benefit that you could spend whatever you liked on TV and Internet but to keep warm or eat - NO WAY.
I am a British citizen and 71yrs old- chronically ill - I get bronchitis which turns to pneumonia- hopefully this year it won't as I have been given a pneumonia vaccine for the first time.
My son is only 36yrs old and chronically ill due to being assaulted in the UK and as he suffers with diabetes and epilepsy he feel the cold terribly and is prone to bronchitis.
It is ridiculous to say we don't need heat- it is freezing here at the moment and has been like this for a week- rain and dampness to top it all.
As the European Court found in our favour surely this is going against EU rules
