Latest news with #DennisReed
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour's 'winter fuel death tax': Tens of thousands of grieving families could be hounded to pick up their dead elderly relative's HMRC bill
The families of dead pensioners could be hounded by the taxman under Labour's winter fuel payments U-turn, it emerged yesterday. Downing Street indicated a 'winter fuel death tax' could be introduced after announcing that millions of pensioners stripped of the subsidy will get it back from this winter. It is understood that the model currently most favoured for restoring the subsidy is to pay it to all pensioners but claw the money back through higher tax bills from the wealthiest. This is because means-testing the payments is viewed as too complex. However, there are concerns about the time period of at least six months between receiving the subsidy and it being declared or clawed back at the end of the tax year. It is estimated that tens of thousands of elderly people who die within that period could be affected, potentially forcing their grieving relatives to pick up the HMRC bill after submitting their loved-one's posthumous tax return. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, branded ministers 'heartless' for even considering the model. He said: 'This winter fuel death tax would be absolutely pathetic.' Asked about a report in the Guardian, which first reported that thousands of relatives face being hounded by HMRC, the Prime Minister's official spokesman refused to rule it out. He said: 'We will set out the details on the policy in due course... HMRC have already got a well-established process in place for assessing someone's tax affairs after they've passed away via probate.' He added: 'The work is under way. I'm not going to give a running commentary on that work.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Fury at minister's winter fuel insult: Campaigners hit out at claims the cut did NOT affect pensioners' health
Labour 's pensions minister faced an angry backlash last night after he claimed that scrapping the winter fuel allowance last year had 'no effect' on the health of older people. In an incendiary intervention as the Government U-turned on the payments, Torsten Bell dismissed warnings from campaigners that removing it from ten million older people had risked a spike in cold-related illnesses and deaths. Mr Bell told MPs that among those who had been hit by the cuts imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last winter, 'we see no differential effects on their health'. But his comments triggered an angry response from campaigners and threatened to overshadow efforts by ministers to undo the political damage caused last year by the decision to means-test the winter fuel payment – one of Ms Reeves's first acts in Government. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said: 'It is a ridiculous thing to say. 'We know from our own members that a lot of people have been shivering in their homes with their overcoats on last winter because they were too afraid to put the heating on. 'Many conditions, such as arthritis and respiratory conditions, are made worse by the cold – how can he possibly claim it's had no effect?' Ms Reeves yesterday confirmed a Government U-turn on the issue, and that 'more people will get winter fuel allowance this winter' – but she was unable to say who will qualify. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, (pictured) said:'We know from our own members that a lot of people have been shivering in their homes with their overcoats on last winter because they were too afraid to put the heating on' She also said the Government will not set out until the autumn how the reinstated payments will be funded. Last night the End Fuel Poverty Coalition wrote to the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for National Statistics demanding evidence for Mr Bell's claim. Group co-ordinator Simon Francis said: 'One of the things we often talk about in relation to fuel poverty is just how hidden it can be, especially among pensioners, who are often reluctant to come forward and admit they're struggling, even to their own relatives. 'You can easily imagine a situation where a pensioner puts the heating on when family visits, just to make it appear as though everything is fine, when in fact it's not. We're particularly concerned about the health impacts of this.' Mr Francis added that official figures pointed to a 3.3 per cent increase in the usual number of deaths among over-75s last winter. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary, accused Mr Bell of 'desperate spin' and that there was no basis for his claim. He added: 'What we do know is that being cold makes many health conditions worse. We also know that millions of older people had less money to pay their gas bill. If Labour really think it had no effect, why are they bringing it back?' In opposition, Labour claimed that means-testing the winter fuel allowance would cause almost 4,000 extra deaths each winter. The finding was based on research by the Left-wing think-tank the Resolution Foundation, which at the time was run by Mr Bell. But yesterday he told MPs the evidence suggested that last winter there had been 'fewer deaths than normal'. The Government's handling of the issue dominated Prime Minister's Questions, with Kemi Badenoch accusing Sir Keir Starmer of presiding over 'chaos'. She added: 'All we see is U-turn after U-turn – his head must be spinning.'
The Guardian
22-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Patient satisfaction with GP services in England has collapsed, research finds
Patients' satisfaction with GP services has collapsed in recent years as family doctors have switched to providing far fewer face-to-face appointments, new research has revealed. The proportion of patients seeing a GP in person has plummeted from more than four-fifths (80.7%) in 2019 to just under two-thirds (66.2%) last year. Telephone appointments have almost doubled over the same period from 13.4% to 25.4%. Those undertaken by video or online, including some in which patients fill in an online form but have no direct interaction with a GP, have risen almost eightfold from 0.6% to 4.6%. The Institute for Government (IFG) thinktank also found patients valued face-to-face appointments so highly that they regarded them as more important than their GP surgery offering more appointments overall by maximising the number provided remotely. They are more satisfied with practices that offer more in-person sessions, and less satisfied with those relying more on telephone and remote consultations, even though those free GPs up to see more patients. The dramatic shift in how family doctors interact with patients has coincided with a huge fall in public satisfaction with GP services. 'Patient satisfaction is higher in practices that deliver more of their appointments face to face,' according to an IFG report tracking the performance of England's 6,200 GP surgeries since 2019. Surgeries that offer the most remote appointments have experienced the biggest falls in satisfaction, the IFG analysis shows. Practices where in-person appointments remain common are also better at managing diseases such as asthma and diabetes, managing smoking and obesity, and providing check-ups to spot illness early, such as health screening and blood pressure checks, the thinktank found. Remote ways of providing care to patients that became commonplace as Covid-19 hit in 2020, which were widely thought at the time to be temporary, have become established ways of doing so at many GP surgeries, even though patients prefer traditional face-to-face appointments. Surveys have found that patients' satisfaction with GP services has fallen dramatically over recent years. Only 31% of people in Britain are satisfied with GP services, and just 23% with GP waiting times, the recent British Social Attitudes survey found. Silver Voices, a not-for-profit campaign group for over-60s, said GP care should not be reduced to 'intermittent telephone conversations' and that the lack of face-to-face appointments undermined Wes Streeting's repeated pledge to 'bring back the family doctor'. Dennis Reed, the group's director, said: 'Older patients are particularly affected by more remote consultations as we are more likely to be living with multiple conditions which require personal examination, rather than the need to just treat immediate symptoms. 'Many older patients are also uncomfortable about discussing intimate issues remotely, and the risks of misdiagnosis therefore increases.' Ministers should legislate to give patients a legal right to an in-person appointment, he said. GP leaders responded to the IFG's conclusions by stressing that surgeries were so overstretched that remote appointments were needed to help them keep up with the growing demand for care. Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: 'We recognise that many patients want to see their GP face to face and the majority of GP appointments are carried out face to face – 64% in February. However, we also know that many patients appreciate the convenience of remote appointments, which can be delivered safely and securely with virtual technologies or over the phone. 'The unfortunate reality is that general practice today is totally overstretched. Patient need for GP care and services continues to outstrip resources following years of neglect and underfunding by successive governments. 'GPs and our teams are now delivering more appointments than ever before – 367m last year, more than a million per day – but with just a handful of more qualified GPs than in 2019.' Stuart Hoddinott, a senior researcher at the IFG and co-author of the Nuffield Foundation-funded report, said the relentless demand for care and shortage of GPs meant patients should not expect in-person appointments to return to pre-Covid levels. He said: 'The pandemic-era shift to providing many more appointments remotely can explain some – though not all – of the collapse in patient satisfaction. 'Although patients, especially those over 65, seem to prefer face-to-face appointments overall, the need to deliver ever more appointments to cope with demand in the system makes a return to pre-pandemic levels of face-to-face appointments unlikely.' The report, which was based on analysis of a range of official data about GP services, also found that: There are too few full-time GPs for the health secretary to fulfil his promise to 'bring back the family doctor', and that is unlikely to change in the years ahead. The government's policy of pushing GPs to offer more appointments may not be 'wise' because GPs will respond by providing more remotely – which patients dislike. GP appointment times will need to be extended from 10 to 15 minutes if Streeting is to deliver his pledge to shift the NHS from a treatment to much more of an illness prevention service. If GPs shift to being more preventive in their work, that might reduce the number of appointments they can offer, because patients will need more time to discuss their health. The Department of Health and Social Care insisted that patients who wanted an in-person consultation should get one. A spokesperson said: 'GP services are buckling after years of neglect but through our plan for change, we are working with GPs to fix the front door of the NHS and bring back the family doctor. By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have recruited more than 1,500 GPs to deliver more appointments. 'This government is also clear that patients should have access to health and care when they need it and people who prefer a face-to-face appointment should have one.'
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
‘My landline is my lifeline': Switch to digital phones prompts concern among elderly and disabled
Vulnerable pensioners and disabled people fear they could be left at risk as the UK phases out the landlines they rely on. Telecom companies BT, Sky and Virgin Media are in the process of switching their customers over to a new digital internet-based systems. For people like Heather, who has severe osteoarthritis, her landline is a lifeline if she were to become stuck in the lift that helps her move around her Suffolk home. 'I live on my own and I'm very concerned about all this,' she told The Independent. 'If I get stuck in the lift or if I become ill for any reason, I need my landline to be able to contact people for help.' The 71-year-old has struggled with pain in her legs for years, and had a knee replacement in 2015 but continues to suffer with discomfort as a result of her condition. Her house was designed to accommodate her needs in 2018, as she is unable to climb stairs easily. Not only does her landline connect her to the outside world, she also uses it as a 'safety precaution'. On a few occasions, her lift has broken down and she once became trapped inside. Thankfully builders working on her property were able to free her but without someone on hand to help her landline would be her only way to raise the alarm. 'The government should be holding fire on this, as a society we're not ready,' she said. 'I'm reasonably okay on IT and I have an iPhone but I don't carry it around, and in a lot of places near me there is very little signal. 'I have friends who are still not aware that the landline is going to go in a couple of years. There are hundreds and thousands of people with no IT experience who depend on their landlines.' The majority of UK customers are expected to switch over to digital by the end of January 2027 as the analogue landline network is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and repair. Rather than using copper wires, phone services will rely on broadband; however this has raised concerns among the older generation and those who rely on personal alarms, which are synced to their landlines. One of the biggest challenges facing telecom companies is that not everyone in the UK has access to high-speed internet, while also ensuring that the new system will continue to operate during power cuts. In 2023, telecom companies temporarily halted non-voluntary switchovers after several personal alarms failed during emergencies. These devices are designed to automatically call emergency services if a vulnerable person falls ill, and are used by around two million people. In January, Openreach announced another 163 locations across the UK where copper-based cable networks will cease to work, affecting around 960,000 people. Campaigner Dennis Reed said that his organisation, Silver Voices, which advocates for the older generation, were 'very concerned' about the rollout, and described the government decision to push ahead with the plans as 'reckless'. 'It's not just people with personal alarms, it's all the other people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who are at risk of having a stroke or a heart attack - they need more help than others,' he said. 'When they can assure me that it is perfectly safe, I'll be happy, but there's still a lot of questions to be answered. It's a recipe for disaster asking older people to switch over to digital if they don't even understand it.' A Department of Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: 'Migrating unreliable landlines to a digital system is vital because the ageing network is increasingly unsafe and putting vulnerable people at risk. So far over half of landlines have been upgraded to the new system. "While this switchover is industry-led, providers have agreed to government demands for a strict checklist of safeguards before migrating vulnerable users 'These include multiple communications to those affected, an engineer visit, minimum battery back-up requirements, and proactively identifying telecare users. Anyone who has a personal alarm should contact their phone company during the upgrade.'
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MPs' pay to soar to £94k in inflation-busting rise
MPs are in line for an inflation-busting 2.8 per cent pay rise this year, the body in charge of parliamentary salaries has announced - in a move that would take their wages to almost £94k. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which was set up in the wake of the expenses scandal, said its proposals in part reflect the 'vital role' of MPs. But critics said it would be a 'bitter pill' to swallow for taxpayers and claimed MPs were being rewarded for failure. And senior citizens accused the government of hypocrisy for entertaining pay rises for MPs while taking winter fuel payments from pensioners. Campaign group Silver Voices said if the pay rise goes through, 'it will reek of hypocrisy'. Founder Dennis Reed told The Independent: 'To be in an apparent financial situation so dire a hard decision had to be taken to deprive 10 million old people of winter fuel payments, but now the situation is apparently not hard enough for there to not be above inflation pay rises for MPs. 'One can't really argue MPs have been struggling for every penny, so it reeks of hypocrisy and will not go down well with pensioners.' Ipsa chairman Richard Lloyd said: "IPSA has been responsible for deciding MPs' pay since 2011. Since then, our aim has been to make fair decisions on pay, both for MPs and the public. "Our pay proposal for 2025-26 reflects the experience of the wider working public sector population, and recognises both the vital role of MPs and the current economic climate." If approved, the increase would take an MP's annual salary to £93,904, up from £91,346. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This will be a bitter pill to swallow given politicians of both front benches have for years hammered the living standards of taxpayers. "MPs are guilty of delivering a record high tax burden, persistent inflation and struggling services, yet are now being rewarded for this catalogue of failures. "Pay for politicians should be strictly linked to the country's economic performance, ideally to actual living standards measured by GDP per capita." Last March, No 10 said then prime minister Rishi Sunak would accept an inflation-busting 5.5 per cent increase in his MP's pay after Ipsa recommended the basic salaries be increased from £86,584. The rise was higher than the rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation. At that stage Ipsa said the decision had been taken in line with the award recently agreed for the senior civil servants. At the start of the last Parliament, in 2019, MPs were paid £79,468. The latest Ipsa proposal is in line with the government's recommendations on a wider public sector pay increase for this year and slightly above the current inflation rate of 2.5 per cent. Mr Reed added: 'It is a fundamental blunder and will be the legacy of this government, Thatcher the milk snatcher lived on… this is going to live on, too.' Ministers are also paid a separate salary on top of being an MP. Ipsa will consult on its proposals until mid-March. It is also carrying out a wider review of MPs' salaries, which it is obliged to do in the first year after an election.
