Rachel Reeves forcing pensioners into poverty with | European Markets

State pensioners might be compelled into poverty due to a “cruel double whammy” in Labour’s tax plans, it has been warned.

Hundreds of pensioners residing within the poorest areas of the nation might see up to 85% of their month-to-month fee eaten up by hovering council tax and vitality payments.

The state pension will rise by £472 a 12 months from April however hefty council tax rises and the choice to means-test the winter fuel fee might go away many aged Brits dealing with hardship.

Dennis Reed, of campaigning physique Silver Voices, instructed The Telegraph, which carried out the evaluation: “The triple lock increase coming this April did not take into account the loss of the winter fuel payment for the large majority of older people, nor did it anticipate this unprecedented hike in council taxes across the country.

“Older people on fixed incomes are facing a cruel double whammy, squeezing their living standards to the point of poverty.” He added: “The Telegraph research nails the lie that older people will be better off under Labour this year.”

Keir Starmer instructed voters in September pensioners could be “better off year-on-year” below Labour.

However evaluation of each native authority area in England discovered pensioners in Bradford, the place council tax is rising by 9.99%, will see the most important chunk of their increase worn out. They’re adopted by Birmingham, Somerset, Trafford and Windsor and Maidenhead.

House owners of a Band D property in Bradford should stump up an further £170 this 12 months. The average winter fuel allowance paid out to retirees by the council in 2023/24 was value £230.

Which means retirees who aren’t eligigle for winter fuel funds will lose £401. That leaves them with simply £71 of the initial £472 state pension uplift. For these in Birmingham, 78% of the uplift should be used to cowl the extra £134 to council tax payments and the loss of the average £233 allowance.

Residents of Somerset and Trafford will see 77% and 75.1% disappear respectively. All three native authorities have been given the inexperienced mild to raise residents’ payments by round 7.5pc from April.

Pensioners in Wandsworth will see the smallest hit, with simply 54.2% of the increase immediately eaten away. Final summer season Rachel Reeves introduced the winter fuel benefit of up to £300 could be eliminated for a lot of people to avoid wasting £1.4billion a 12 months.

Beforehand all pensioners acquired a lump sum of between £200 and £300 to help with vitality payments, however now the fee is obtainable solely to these on pension credit who’ve an income beneath £218.15 per week as a single particular person, or £332.95 as a couple. Because the announcement, functions for pension credit have elevated by 145%.

The Chancellor was lately compelled to amend her CV again after being accused of exaggerating the size of time she spent on the Financial institution of England. A BBC investigation revealed the Chancellor left the Financial institution of England 9 months earlier than her LinkedIn profile suggests.

A spokesman for Ms Reeves admitted the dates on her LinkedIn profile had been inaccurate, claiming it was an administrative error by her crew. She now admits to spending simply over six years at Threadneedle Road, regardless of claiming in a number of interviews that she spent up to 10 years there.

The latest edit is the second by the Chancellor since getting into authorities final 12 months. She beforehand admitted to working in Halifax’s buyer relations division, not the retail banking unit as she initially claimed.

The BBC has additionally printed a prolonged investigation into the Chancellor’s time at HBOS after a former colleague’s claims about her bills on the firm went viral. Former Halifax colleague Kev Gillett mentioned on social media that Ms Reeves “nearly got sacked due to an expenses scandal where the three senior managers were all signing off each other’s expenses”.

Ms Reeves’s crew has vigorously denied the allegations. The triple lock was launched in 2010 and makes sure the state pension rises annually in step with both inflation, wage growth or 2.5pc. This 12 months the uptick follows the 4.1pc wage growth.

Councils with grownup social care obligations are solely permitted to raise council tax by up to 4.99% with out holding a referendum. For others, the restrict is 2.99%.

This 12 months, six councils had been granted permission from the Authorities to increase council tax above the 4.99% cap. It got here regardless of Labour’s pledge to freeze council tax within the election marketing campaign.

A Authorities spokesman instructed the Telegraph: “Millions of pensioners will see their state pension rise by up to £1,900 this parliament through our commitment to the triple lock, and financial support is available to help pensioners on low incomes with council tax bills.

“We have taken a stricter approach to council tax rises than the previous government, only agreeing to a limited number of increases for those in desperate need, and we expect that taxpayers in these areas will still pay less than the average compared to similar councils.”