The Government has been accused of ‘giving up on protecting the vulnerable’ after new figures show more than 170,000 North West pensioners are being forced to live in poverty.
Since 2017 the Government has held back an eye-watering £7 billion in unclaimed Pension Credit across the country.
But in the North West, more than 170,000 pensioner households – the highest number in Great Britain – have been starved of more than £430 million thanks to the Government’s failure to act on Pension Credit.
In the Manchester local authority area alone, more than £45 million went unclaimed in 2016/17, rising to nearly £170 million across Greater Manchester.
North West Lib Dem spokesperson Cllr. Richard Kilpatrick said:
“This incompetent Government has given up on even pretending to protect vulnerable people and, as usual, is hitting the North hardest.
“The poorest pensioners in Manchester and across the North West who are already struggling, are being denied the Pension Credit that they not only deserve but desperately need.
“This Government must get its act together – and quickly. The longer our pensioners are starved of the money they deserve, the more they fall into poverty.
“Our pensioners deserve better. Whilst the Tories rip themselves apart over their leadership contest and waste time delivering a catastrophic no-deal Brexit, only the Liberal Democrats are fighting for the most vulnerable in society.”
