Mid Bedfordshire MP Blake Stephenson has questioned the Government's claims the Household Support Fund will help local pensioners after discovering the East of England will receive half as much funding per pensioner as London.
The local MP has written to Secretary of State for Work & Pensions Liz Kendall highlighting that, per pensioner, the East of England can expect to receive some of the lowest amounts from the Household Support Fund in the country. In fact, the East of England will receive £32.90 per pensioner, compared to £66.73 for London.
At DWP Questions in the House of Commons yesterday (7th October), the Minister justified Labour's cuts to Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners by claiming 'there are mitigations in place, we have extended the Household Support Fund.”
However, the East of England will receive the same amount of funding from the Household Support Fund as it did before the cuts to Winter Fuel Payments so there has been no uplift to take this into account and leaves the East of England with less than half the funding per pension as London will receive.
Blake Stephenson MP's letter has been signed by a number of other MP's from across the East of England including James Cartlidge, MP for South Suffolk, Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne, Dr. Neil Hudson, MP for Epping Forest, and Ben Obese-Jecty, MP for Huntingdon.
