Life is already tough for pensioner Carole who is dependent on a wheelchair, and housebound due to her disabilities.
With bills rising as a result of the cost of living crisis, the 86-year-old says she barely scrapes by each month. “I didn’t think things could get any worse,” she told i.
But with forecasters predicting that Ofgem’s energy price cap will increase by £146 – from £1,568 to £1,714 – this October, she is concerned things will become even harder.
Carole, who lives alone in social housing in Bournemouth, said: “Last winter, I saw my energy bills rise from around £30 a month to £86, so the news that they are going to rise even further broke me.
“I just about got by last winter by keeping the heating low and wrapping myself up in blankets and cardigans, so I’m just praying that this winter is mild.”
Last year, Carole, who did not wish to give her surname, was able to claim the winter fuel payment which gave her an extra £300 to help cover her energy bills. But this year, she will not receive the benefit after Chancellor Rachel Reeves scrapped it for those not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
Carole added: “I am only just over the threshold to qualify for pension credit as I have a savings account with a little bit of emergency money in it that I got when I sold my house. I am still struggling financially and really need some extra support, but I’m going to miss out.
“I don’t know how I’m going to cope this year with less support, especially if my bills do go up over the winter months.”
The only thing Carole can cut back on, having scrimped everywhere else, is her carer that visits three times a week to help with the tasks that she just can’t do, including her laundry and showering.
“Having my carer come to help me is essential. She costs me £20 per hour and she comes in for one hour, three times a week. I am going to have to cut this right back to one day per week now that I know my bills will be going up.”
Carole receives about £200 a week from an American pension, but this can vary dramatically from month-to-month with the exchange rate. She also receives the basic UK state pension of £169.50 a week and attendance allowance of £60 per month, which she uses to help pay for her carer.
Her monthly rent consumes a significant portion of her limited income, and over the past few years, she has seen her service fees and electricity bills increase substantially.
Carole, who moved back to the UK in 2004 after living and working in America for 30 years, added: “I am lucky to have good friends around me who cook me meals, which helps me keep my weekly food bill low, but I’m going to have to start swapping hot meals for sandwiches from October when the price cap takes effect.
“Once a week, my friend who works at the local food bank brings me back a food parcel, but I think I’m going to have to start going there more often.”
The retiree’s two sons still live abroad – one in Spain and one in America. She said that money is so tight, her son has had to send her some cash to help her get by, which she said she was “embarrassed” about.
She added: “I’ve worked hard all of my life, and it doesn’t even feel like the government are ignoring older people like me anymore, it feels like they are penalising us.
“I might have to go on benefits in order to survive. This is something that I never wanted to do but I feel like I have no choice. Because of my disability, I can’t just turn the heating off completely, it will start impacting my health. I have to think seriously about things like pneumonia.”
Age UK said it strongly opposes the means-testing of the winter fuel payment because it means as many as two million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and could be in serious trouble as a result.
It has created a petition to save the benefit for the poorest pensioners.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “It seems highly likely that the price cap will be rising again from October, quite possibly by an significant amount. If so, this will be a further blow for the estimated two million older people who rely on their winter fuel payment to help pay their fuel bills but who are likely to lose it, once the Government’s policy of means-testing the benefit starts in a few weeks’ time.
“It’s another reason for us to be fearful about the outlook for pensioners this winter, and it further reinforces the case against means-testing winter fuel payment so precipitously, without any mitigating policies being in place to safeguard the older people at greatest risk of hardship and damage to their health.”
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is launching a pension credit awareness drive to encouraged pensioners to check if they are eligible for the benefit.
It said the Government’s campaign will help identify households not claiming the benefit, and encourage pensioners to apply by 21 December, the last date for making a backdated claim for pension credit, in order to receive the winter fuel payment.