“Every pensioner has the right to choice, to dignity, independence and security
as an integral and valued member of society”
Union Safety Reps work is more a vocation than a job, which explains why so many are active within their communities, and where they experience a new found respect and value for their expertise and experience, that is so often missing within their normal working environments and Trade Union Branches.
One such ex-Branch Health & Safety Officer and Safety Rep, is Derek Maylor, who having retired from BT, but remains a retired CWU member; is now a Trustee with the Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group. Derek was also, the secretary of the NW BT Unions Health & Safety Co-ord for many years until his retirement.
Here, Derek reports on the National Pensioners Convention, which given the Government's announcement into the cutting of Winter Fuel Payments, puts Health & Safety In The Home, in the forefront of today's pensioners major concerns.
Further, it is a common known fact that most accidents leading to death and injuries, occur in our homes, making the Health & Safety of Pensioners, a key issue for the NPC:
The event was opened by Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary setting the scene for the 2024 convention and introduced Barry Todman, the NPC Vice President to commence a minute’s silence for those who had passed in the last twelve months.
The formal “Welcome to Blackpool” was given by Mayor Councillor Peter Hunter who gave a background of Blackpool’s history of being host to a multitude of conferences over the years, probably more than anywhere else in the UK.
Locally the council are proud of they way they look after their pensioners and for that are comparable to anywhere in the UK. However, the town is not merely the UKs largest holiday resort it in a living community with issue, but everyone is valued. Jack Jones formed the NPC and he would be proud of the campaigning work it successfully does today.
Jan Shortt said that this Convention will be themed on pensioner poverty, and we will discuss the cut of the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) many times as it will be disastrous for many people.
Note though that pensioners are not a homogeneous bunch, not all the same with the same needs, but a collection of individuals with different requirements and different skills that are issued in the community like voluntary work. Some problems are shared like paying for transport which can be a massive issue, one of the issues we will campaign on.
We have a huge number of voices, and we will be heard. There is to be a lobby of Parliament on the 7 October, and it is essential for as many NPC members as possible to take part; there will be a short gathering outside the House then a lobby on MPs and Lords in Room 14 from 1400 to 1600.
Eorann Lean is the senior external affairs manager from Age UK stated that WFP is a cut, no dressing it up. Some stats claimed that it will save £1.4 bn per year and that there is a £22 bn black hole are serious but freezing many pensioners to death is not the answer.
It will increase spending by the NHS and put more pressure on already underfunded social services and local authorities who will have to pick up the pieces. Older people will have about £600 less this winter to keep warm and last year 3.7 million were already cutting back on food. Keeping warm when ill or on dialysis etc cannot be cut back without severe results, it is life threatening.
Pensioners’ do not have the ability to save in the summer to keep warm in the winter, it is not an option and there are already 1.9 million people in poverty, and several million just above the line. There is a budget on 30 October and pensioners may be hit again then. Support all NPC actions and get family and friends to do so too.
There was Zoom presentation from Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, Chair of the British Medical Association England GP Committee (GPC) – GP services are worsening at the same time as the demand, and expectancy, for them are increasing. General Practices across the UK are broken, every single practice is struggling, and one-in-four surgeries have gone, closed, this is when patient numbers pan UK are increasing.
GPs are on your side but there are people who want GPs removed and replaced with private multinational business medical services based on insurance models. Join the Patient Participation Group at your local surgery and have say, support the BMA.
Bryn Davies, Lord Davies of Brixton - we were all happy when Labour were elected to Government in July, are still happy now? How did we get to here in such a short time? There was an unambiguous commitment to maintaining the triple lock in the Labour manifesto but nothing about WFP which was a bomb dropped on the most vulnerable. In the Kings Speech on 17 July there was a mention of a Pension Schemes Bill which is for private pensions but nothing about the state pension.
The Pension Review which Emma Reynolds is leading, will look at pension funds but these are there to provide pension and not to prop up government spending. The review should look at the adequacy of the state pension which lags behind most of western Europe already. On the WFP, when 39% of people are not claiming pension credit already the Government are not going to get them all on line in a few weeks whatever the campaign or publicity they put out there, if they ever get to near to it. The Lords has the power to turn back regulations to a point and many are personally unhappy with the WFP cut by a new Labour Government.
Dr Bob Gill, a campaigner and Director of The Great NHS Heist (2019) opened saying there is a push to turn the NHS into a US cash cow. Politicians constantly lie about the NHS using it as tool to pull at the heart strings whist thinking how much money they can get out of it, yet the media imposes an ignorance on us. Public Private Partnership is merely taking our tax money and putting it into private pockets using the NHS to get at it.
They will not say that, would you expect a con artist say, “I’m going to steal your money”? The NHS will not be sorted by pumping more money into it – that would just be stolen, the whole NHS patient delivery needs restructuring, it needs changing to benefit the patients not corporate bank accounts and shareholder dividends. During Covid jabs were made costing 50p but the NHS was paying £14 for each of them. Physicians Assistants are only a start, there will a whole raft of other “assistants” to come – all in the name of providing a service at a better cost, it should be about the patient’s welfare not a company making a buck.
There was an online presentation from Diarmaid McDonald a Director of Just Treatment about data driven healthcare. As Dr Gill mentioned Pharmaceutical companies are charging prices so high the NHS and patients simply can’t afford the medicines. Healthcare corporations are slowly taking control of more and more of the NHS and this profit-driven agenda is putting all our lives at risk.
Phoebe Sleet is the Policy Officer for Digital Poverty Alliance began by noting that one fifth of the UK are in digital poverty. A definition of digital poverty is “The inability to interact with the online world fully, when where and how an individual needs to”. There is a growing divide with every new bit of technology that comes along, and this makes existing inequities around race, gender, age, ability and income worse.
The pandemic made us all more aware of there being a digital divide as more and more service went online; some remain online only which is clearly not acceptable. Some initial progress was made in response, but we must go much further to address the determinants of digital poverty, just giving some household a refurbished laptop does not end digital exclusion.
Nav Hussain is the Stakeholder Engagement Manager for Digital Voice and talked about the phone line switch over from analogue to digital in January 2027. You will keep the same number, and it will be easier to block nuisance and spam calls using an AI filter.
Regarding telecare issues - Openreach engineers will support customers through the switch from an analogue to digital landline and will ensure that the telecare device is working before leaving the property. Customers who are known to be vulnerable or with additional needs will not be moved until data sharing arrangements are in place and home support for telecare users is available. Additional battery mobiles for over 75s or those with specific issues will be provided free and there will also be a dedicated landline service without the need for an internet connection.
Owen Sloss from Campaign for Better Transport which is charity working across England and Wales to make transport better, a vision for all communities to have high quality, sustainable transport that meets their needs, improves quality of life whilst protecting the environment. Talked about other campaigning work, too many train refunds are online only. What if a ticket machine is not working, you are encouraged to travel without a ticket and could be fined?
Brian Sturtevant is Chair of the NPC Pension & Income Working Party which reports back to the NPC National Council. Their remit is to consider the state pension, ageism, triple lock, pension credit, a living pension (70% of TUCs living wage), WASPI, occupational pensions, pensions regulator, age related benefits like transport concessions and prescription charges etc.
Helena Herklots CB is the (soon to be retired) Commissioner for Older People, Wales – a position we need putting in place in both England and Scotland. A passionate speaker with a work history that backs up her suitability for taking on the Commissioners role, formerly of both Care UK and AgeUK. It was Nelson Mandela who said that “a society that does not value its old, denies its roots and denies its future” which still holds true. It is not all about the past but what people can contribute now.
The people who formed Friends of the earth in 1971 are old now but still passionate about the environment. There must be an end to ageism which is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s age and is still very prevalent within society and we all should age well – ‘adding life to years, not just years to life’. We all have rights and one of the most important is dignity until our last breath.
As already mentioned there is a right to information and cannot be any digital exclusion, a company cannot just dismiss people saying its online only. Many people do not value older people and was told that “I feel like I’ve committed a crime by living longer” the lady was referring to media saying that NHS problems were made worth by people living longer!! Longevity must be celebrated, and the media challenged.
Look at the insulting road sign for elderly people. Consider anti-aging products on the shelves – like aging is wrong and should be avoided. All this creates a theme and language is important, look how many politician use phrases like “for working people” implying that non-working pensions are a drain on society, and they do not contribute. Food banks around the UK are mostly staffed by older volunteers and are numerous charity shops and charity trustees etc. Wales has a National Action Plan to prevent the abuse of older people, and the rest of the UK is welcome to copy it. There is an intergenerational message, we do not want the young people to fear getting old but for them to look forward to a new part of life, not scared of getting food or keeping warm.
Morgan Vine, Director of Policy and Influencing, Independent Age (Pensioner Poverty) talked about the UK Government’s recent decision to means-test the WFP and restrict it to only people receiving Pension Credit, risks plunging hundreds of thousands of older people further into financial hardship this winter. People on a low income can’t afford to lose this income. Some people do not consider themselves in poverty, but they miss meals, don’t put the fire on, wear worn out clothing etc. They see poverty as that in Oliver Twist and Dickens. Independent Age receives calls from older people who wash in cold water, sit in the dark, eat cold food and so on. These are not isolated cases and as previous speaker said there are just under two million in poverty with a million just above that.
Clare Wilkins from the NPC Climate Change Working Party and Tina Rothery from Nanna’s Against Fracking said that it is odd that this still seems to be the Cinderella issue in the Labour movement when there are groups as diverse as Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) and the Nanna’s coming together. Real action by Governments is urgent but all too slow and multinationals are more concerned with money than the planet. Even when we think we are helping we are often misled, only 20% of the plastics we put into the system is recycled and much of the remaining exported.
Commitments are being scaled back by the UK Government and the Labour manifesto was big on commitment but small on detail. Promises must be put into practice, and we want to nationalise the energy companies not merely create another one. Look at the Climate and Nature Bill in Parliament which considers air and water pollution, soil being so depleted it needs chemicals to get some nutrients to grow crops, then that chemical worsens the soil in the longer term as well as running off into streams and water courses.
But we must keep campaigning, small groups can change things and older people protesting has an effect – it is harder for someone to push or hit a seventy year old than a seventeen year old. It is hard to ask someone to protest on the environment when they are cold and hungry, stop the WFP cuts.
Derek Maylor CWU GMA Branch RMS – 5 September 2024
Sources:
• Independent Age: Helpline is open weekdays 08.30 to 17.30 Monday to Friday, 0800 319 6789 or email helpline@independentage.org
• BMA GP Campaign www.bma.org.uk/our-campaigns/gp-campaigns#patients.
• Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour) MP Poole - Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024, tabled 2 September 2024, EDM 115 (see below)
• The Great NHS Heist You Tube Palestine Appeal (Extended) w/Raheel | Action For Humanity (youtube.com)
• Just Treatment https://justtreatment.org/about
• Campaign for Better Transport https://bettertransport.org.uk
• Climate and Nature Bill https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3707
EDM 115 – “That this House expresses its concern that The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 are being introduced without prior consultation or an impact assessment, nor with sufficient time to put in place a proper and effective take-up campaign for Pension Credit; notes this approach fails to take account for those people with modest incomes that are just above the entitlement threshold for Pension Credit;
further notes the worrying annual excess winter death figures among pensioners; recognises the impact a sharp rise in the energy price cap of 10% from 1 October will have on pensioners which will not be helped by introducing a bureaucratic and unpopular means test which undermines the benefits of universalism when older people have higher energy costs due to co-morbidities and poor housing insulation;
further recognises that colder homes make older people more susceptible to poor health, including hyperthermia, respiratory and circulatory disease; and calls on the Government to postpone the ending of Winter Fuel Payments and establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty, health inequality and low incomes among older people”.
