Oral Answers to Questions

Samantha Dixon Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

5. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of (a) inflation and (b) food prices on pensioners’ incomes.

[Samantha Dixon (City of Chester) (Lab)]

13. What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of (a) inflation and (b) food prices on pensioners’ incomes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Laura Trott)]

In April, the state pension saw its largest ever rise of 10.1%, thanks to the triple lock protecting pensioners.

[Laura Trott]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the work he is doing in his constituency. I assure him that that is exactly what the Government are doing. We recently launched an “invitation to claim” trial, which has been rolled out in 10 constituencies and is using housing benefit data to target those who might also be eligible for pension credit. We will report back on the results of that trial later this year.

[Samantha Dixon]

It might be hard to imagine on a sunny day like today, but winter is just around the corner. The reality for many worried pensioners in my constituency is that this winter there will be a choice between heating and eating. We have a Government who are tiptoeing around the real issues while our constituents struggle to make ends meet. When will the Government make a real plan to tackle the cost of living crisis and implement meaningful action to help thousands of pensioners in poverty?

[Laura Trott]

With respect to the hon. Lady, that is exactly what we are doing. That is why we have put the cost of living payments in place, which are worth £900 to all those on pension credit, and why a cost of living pensioner payment worth £300 is coming out in the winter. All the while the Labour Mayor of London is charging pensioners £12.50 when they want to drive to the hospital.

Oral Answers to Questions

Samantha Dixon Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

19. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of pensioners living in poverty.

[Samantha Dixon (City of Chester) (Lab)]

21. What recent estimate he has made of the number of pensioners in poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Laura Trott)]

In 2022, there were 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty than in 2010.

--- Later in debate ---

[Laura Trott]

We challenge those figures, as the hon. Lady knows. I point her to the record increase in state pension that we have just introduced—10.1% for both the state pension and pension credit. That will make a real difference to pensioner poverty levels, alongside the cost of living payments that are going out this year—£900 for pensioners on pension credit and £300 for all pensioner households.

[Samantha Dixon]

Two weeks ago I visited West Cheshire Foodbank in my constituency, where volunteers told me that for the first time a couple who were both pensioners had turned up in tears because they could not afford the cost of living and the basics. The Government have failed to fix the issues with pension credit uptake, with over a third of those entitled not claiming. Given that there are 400,000 more pensioners in poverty today than when Labour left office, why should the pensioners forced to visit the food bank in Chester trust a Government who have repeatedly let them down?

[Laura Trott]

I am sorry to hear about the pensioners involved. If they are eligible for pension credit and not claiming, I assume the hon. Lady is helping them. As a Department we are happy to give any assistance to those individuals. We are doing all we can to boost pension credit uptake. There was a campaign before Christmas, which I am sure she was part of, to get people to claim the cost of living payment, which we will repeat this year. We saw a 177% increase in claims just before Christmas. There will also be the pension credit week of action for the summer on 12 to 16 June, which I hope many hon. Members will take part in.

Labour Market Activity

Samantha Dixon Excerpts

Tuesday 28th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth]

Absolutely. Of course, a Labour Government will definitely deliver more resources. I hope that we can pilot that in the east midlands combined authority, as well as in the Leicester area—the hon. Gentleman will know what that is a reference to.

[Samantha Dixon (City of Chester) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend is making an eloquent point about the devolution of this policy area. I draw his attention to the work that Cheshire West and Chester Council has done with work zones across our borough and in my constituency. That work has been really effective not just in getting people into work, but in enabling those in low-paid work to get up the skills escalator. The sort of short-term rigid national contracting that we are seeing from the Government is actively working against the devolution and skills that local employers and local people need. I would be very pleased if he agreed.

[Jonathan Ashworth]

I agree. May I welcome my hon. Friend to her place? This is the first opportunity that I have had to do so. She brings to this House great experience in local government. She knows that local authority leaders, working in partnership with the business community, with those who provide skills, and with civic societies, trade unions and so on, can do a much better job of getting people back to work, which is why we should be shifting resources, be it to the east midlands combined authority, the Cheshire region or elsewhere.

Where that has happened in pockets—such as in Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester, through the working well initiative—there have been great successes, so we need to shift resources. That is the key to providing a form of universal support, which my friends at the Centre for Social Justice have rightly called for, to help people with complex barriers to return to work. We endorse that approach.