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PENSIONERS will be spending £1 in every £5 of their income this winter on energy, Labour research found today, forcing many to endure greater poverty than usual.
Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that while Tory leadership candidates “propose fantasy tax cuts” pensioners were wondering how to heat their homes.
But the UK’s biggest pensioners’ group, the National Pensioners Convention, said Labour’s figure was almost certainly an underestimate, and that coupled with other rising costs, pensioners are running out of ways to survive financially.
Jan Shortt, general secretary of the convention, said: “Given that VAT on energy is at 5 per cent, that £1 will barely cover the cost of energy itself.
“However, it is not just energy that pensioners are struggling with. Cutting back on food, cooking a hot meal, showers and carers is also a feature of how the pensioner population are having to make more decisions about how to spend their income.
“Although energy costs are at an all-time high, we mustn’t forget all the other costs: rent, council tax, delivery charges, interests on mortgages and loans pushing up costs.”
