WIREDGOV

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to an Independent Age report on how low pension credit take-up is costing health and care services £4 billion a year 

“There are a range of ways in which older people can receive support and it is essential they are able to access all the benefits and other entitlements that they are eligible for.

“Improved take-up of pension credit should be an ambition with the primary motivation being to reduce health inequalities, ensure people are kept out of poverty and able to live the lives they want to lead. Any resultant savings in providing health and social care services would be good news and supports the case for increased investment in prevention.

“This helpful report should be considered by government as it develops its proposals for the future of adult social care in England, which needs to include not just older people but working-age adults and all those who use and work in social care.

“We look forward to the start of promised cross-party talks on the future of adult social care, as soon as possible.”

Notes to editors

The LGA represents more than 330 councils of all types across England. We work on behalf of our members to support, promote and improve local government.

It is councils who had led communities through the COVID-19 crisis. Our recent polling shows that 71 per cent of residents trust their council and two thirds are satisfied with the way their local council runs things in their area. Our new discussion paper - Re-thinking Local - sets out how councils must now be empowered to locally-lead the COVID-19 recovery and tackle the economic, environmental and community challenges that we will face as a result of the pandemic.

The cost of pensioner poverty and non-take-up of Pension Credit