Sykes welcomes government pensions credit campaign but calls on Oldham Council to act

Leader of Oldham Liberal Democrats councillor Howard Sykes MBE has welcomed the government’s decision to launch a campaign to encourage pensioners to apply for universal credit.

Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner are to launch a campaign to encourage pensioners to apply for Pension Credit.  The move comes after substantial push back against the new Labour government’s plans to scrap winter fuel payments from those pensioners not in receipt of pension credit.  The announcement was met with heavy criticism by the Liberal Democrats, as well as charities like Age UK and Independent Age.

Councillor Sykes said, “I welcome the government’s decision to launch a campaign to improve the uptake of pension credit.  It’s wrong to look at axing winter fuel payments before making sure that those who should be on pension credit are accessing support.”

According to ‘Policy in Practice’ research, a staggering £8.5 million in pension credit went unclaimed last year. 

Councillor Sykes said, “All eyes are now on Oldham Council.  I wrote to the council leader last week (13 Aug) calling on Oldham to launch its own awareness campaign to support pensioners across our communities.  Oldham Council needs to act quickly."