Our year in policy and influencing: The whirlwind of 2023
As 2023 comes to a close, Head of Policy and Influencing, Morgan Vine reflects on a busy year calling for improvements to later life.
For me, 2023 disappeared in a flash; a whirlwind of highs and lows that seemed to zoom past with little time to reflect. But I know from speaking to people in later life who are living on a low income that, for many of them, the days felt long and the months uncertain as they continued to try to make their low, fixed income stretch to cover their rising costs.
As the Head of Policy and Influencing at Independent Age, I work with people in later life, colleagues, and friends in the sector to ensure that the problems experienced by older people in financial hardship are amplified on a public stage, and that the policies and systems they rely on are improved by the people who make the decisions
Our biggest impacts this year
Together, Independent Age campaigners, volunteers and colleagues have had a big impact in 2023. Here are my top highlights:
1. New people got Pension Credit
Since 2019, Independent Age has campaigned to increase the number of older people on low income who get the Pension Credit they’re entitled to. Pension Credit is money set aside for older people living on a low income.
We’ve kept up the pressure on the UK Government this year by speaking in the media, submitting evidence to inquiries and we were joined by older campaigners — Ellen and Thabani — to deliver our oversized invoice to the Secretary of State alongside an open letter with more than 3,000 signatures calling on the Government to do more to get Pension Credit to everyone eligible. Find out more in our blog and short film.
This year we also published our Local Authority Pension Credit toolkit with examples from interviews we did with multiple Local Authorities across the UK. Each of them have tried innovative approaches to increase Pension Credit take up. We shared the findings with more than 250 local government representatives across the country, and with central Government, in the hope that the best practice examples will inform their own initiatives.
Having called for more targeted and strategic activity to increase Pension Credit uptake, we were pleased to see the UK Government trial new approaches, including working with data held by local councils. This is a step in the right direction and we hope there is more to come.
Activity across the board is having an impact. We don’t yet know the total number for the whole year, but we do know that from January to May 2023 about 70,000 new people began receiving Pension Credit. I know from the people I’ve spoken to that this extra money will really help, and it also qualifies recipients for other support such as social tariffs, Council Tax reduction, Housing Benefit and Cost-of-living support payments.
2. The Scottish Welfare Fund will be promoted more effectively to older people
In the summer, the Scottish Government published their Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) Action Plan. The SWF is a source of emergency support for people in Scotland, made up of two elements: Crisis Grants (short term financial assistance for unexpected emergency expenses — food, energy costs etc), and Community Care Grants (to support someone to live in their community — for example replacing a broken washing machine, fitting carpets in a new home etc). Our research showed that many older people on low income don’t know these grants exist so we’ve been speaking to MSPs across Scotland and Local Authorities asking them to undertake more effective and targeted advertising that focused on older people facing financial hardship. It was great to see our research and evidence quoted in the SWF action plan, and the Scottish Government commit to more effective promotion to older people. We hope this activity results in more people living on low income in later life knowing about the SWF and accessing support when they need it.
3. The Energy Price Guarantee was not increased
Across the year, we conducted research to draw attention to the impact of rising household bills on older people facing financial hardship and published our findings in a new report “A constant struggle” — which included testimony from over 1,000 older people on low incomes.
We explored the impact of broadband, water, energy and Council Tax bills and policy recommendations we believe could ease the burden.
One problem approaching fast was the planned increase in April of the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) from £2,500 to £3,000. Our evidence was clear this would hit older people on low incomes hard. As well as sharing our concerns in the media, we also supported a campaign led by Money Saving expert Martin Lewis calling for the UK Government to postpone this planned increase. The Chancellor referenced the campaign in his Budget statement and confirmed the Government would no longer increase the EPG threshold. This limited higher energy costs for everyone, including older people facing financial hardship.
However we know bills are still much higher than they were and we will continue to campaign for support for those on low incomes.
4. Policies to improve life for older renters were formed
In 2023, we drew more attention to the plight of older renters living on a low income; a group we know is at much more risk of being in poverty in later life.
Following extensive research, including conversations with older private renters in England, we launched our Hidden Renters report. We shared our findings and recommendations with, among others, civil servants, politicians and charities. We secured hundreds of pieces of media coverage, campaigners wrote thousands of letters to their local politicians, we took part in stunts, and worked with other organisations in coalition.
During 2023, the UK Government introduced the Renters Reform Bill to Parliament — which was one of our recommendations — and despite some major delays, it’s now working its way through Westminster.
This proposed new legislation has the opportunity to greatly improve the lives of renters of all ages, including older private renters. If you want to find out more, have a look at this blog. In addition, in the Autumn, the UK Government announced it would increase Local Housing Allowance so it matches at least the lowest 30% of rents. This has been one of our key policy calls and we have been working with others — such as the charities Shelter and Crisis — to keep the pressure up on decision makers. We’re also expecting a Housing Bill to be introduced to the Scottish parliament — as housing in Scotland falls under the remit of the Scottish Government — and we’ll be looking for opportunities to share older Scottish renters experiences to influence the shape of it.
5. The State Pension age wasn’t increased
Every few years, by law, the UK Government has to review the State Pension age and decide whether to keep it the same, increase it or reduce it. They also decide whether any existing planned rises should be brought forward. As this review has taken place, Independent Age — alongside others — has been feeding in the insight we have from older people in financial hardship to influence the outcome.
We believe now is not the time to increase the State Pension age, given falling life expectancy, rising rates of poverty in later life and the cost-of-living crisis. We submitted consultation responses, met with senior civil servants and Government advisers and secured media coverage on this issue. Early in 2023, the UK Government announced it will not increase the State Pension age at this time, however, the they have left the door open to review again within two years so this is something we will gather evidence on and closely monitor.
6. We shone a spotlight on the stories of poverty in later life
Poverty and financial insecurity may be a great leveller, but it does not affect all people equally, with certain groups — including women, single people, carers, people from minoritised communities, people with long term health conditions and disabilities and private renters — at a higher risk of having money worries in later life than others. Across 2023, we showcased their stories and experiences.
Our “Not enough to live on” report focused on the reality for older people living in poverty in Scotland, and our ‘Hidden two million’ report looked at the situation for at-risk groups across the UK. We also took an in-depth look at the barriers which prevent older people from minoritised communities from exiting poverty. All this work received significant media coverage and allowed us to draw attention to seldom-heard groups in later life.
Many of the people we speak to tell us they feel hidden and ignored. To start to remedy this, across 2023 we worked with Age UK, the National Pensioners Convention and the Centre for Ageing Better to lead a group of more than 70 organisations in England, and 30 in Scotland, to back a call to introduce a Commissioner for each nation to stand up for older people. Commissioners already exist in Wales and Northern Ireland.
We worked with celebrities to make a short film. We coordinated events in Westminster and Holyrood parliaments to put the Commissioner call on the map with politicians across the UK and secure their support. More than 1,300 Independent Age campaigners invited their local political representatives to attend, and more than 50 politicians did. As a result, multiple politicians are now taking action on this call in Holyrood and Westminster.
Want to help? If you haven’t already you can sign our petition for England, or Scotland, depending on where you live.
We also ran Commissioner roadshows across the country in Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, London and Glasgow and heard powerful testimony from older people who told us they feel disempowered and ignored, and that an independent Commissioner for Older People could change that. In September we collated the views that had been shared with us and launched our ‘Who wants to listen to me?’ report making the case.
We’ll continue to draw attention to the experiences of older people on low incomes across 2024.
Want to make change happen?
- If you’re not already a member, you can find out more, stay up to date and support our activity by joining our campaigns network. This means you’ll receive email updates, and you can get involved as and when you choose.
- Already a campaigner with us? Why not share our campaign actions with friends and family to see if they’d like to get involved and support.
- You could join us as a LEAP volunteer to help us shape our work. We’re particularly keen to hear from people who feel financially insecure, who rent, who are 80+ and those from Black, Asian and other minoritised communities as we know these groups are particularly impacted by financial hardship. If you want to learn more just email campaigns@independentage.org.uk
- You could campaign on issues that matter to you, and the campaigning toolkit we created in 2023 may be able help if you’re not an experienced campaigner. The toolkit was informed by our LEAP group of older volunteers and gives general tips and tricks to help you make change on issues you care about, whether locally or nationally.
