This week for London Challenge Poverty Week John McGeachy, campaigns manager for Age UK London talks poverty amongst older people and what local authorities can do.
There are many ways that someone can experience poverty. The choice between ‘heating or eating’ we have heard, but poverty can be so many things. From not replacing a worn-out winter coat or not getting a haircut, to facing the fear of a rent payment you’ll struggle to make.
The older Londoners interviewed for Age UK London’s latest ‘Poverty amongst older Londoners’ report told us about waiting until 6pm to turn the heating on, not using lights and skipping meals.
The report, released just ahead of London Challenge Poverty Week (16- 22 October), doesn’t set out to go into lots of detail about the underlying reasons behind poverty amongst older Londoners. Instead, it seeks to outline key data, primarily based on the most recent edition of the Department for Work and Pensions ‘Households Below Average Income’ statistics. We published the report to increase both awareness and understanding of the current situation.
First, the data shows us 24% of Londoners over 50 and 23% of those aged 66 and over (pensioners) live in poverty. Like most other organisations, we use the common definition of poverty, which is when income is less than 60% of the current median income.
The poverty rate of 24% is a 1% drop since last year’s data, but overall, we have witnessed a steep increase in poverty amongst older Londoners over the past decade.
We also see that older Londoners are more likely to live in poverty compared with their peers in other parts of the country. The 5% difference between poverty levels in London (24%) and the rest of England (19%) may not seem like a huge amount but it is in fact a significant gap. To put it into perspective, if poverty among older Londoners was at 19%, as it is across England, it would be the equivalent of 125,000 fewer older Londoners living in poverty. That’s a similar population to many ‘small’ cities.
There are several reasons why London has higher levels of poverty amongst the over 50s than the rest of the country. Firstly, renters are more likely than those in other housing tenures to live below the poverty line and London has a higher proportion of older renters (both social tenants and private renters) compared with the rest of the country. 28% of older private renters in London live in poverty and the situation for older social tenants is even worse – a shocking 46%.
Secondly, London has a higher proportion of older people from groups that traditionally experience higher rates of poverty due to factors based around a range of structural inequalities such older Black, Asian, or other minority ethnic older Londoners and LGBTQ+ older Londoners.
Thirdly, London had a high proportion of older people that live alone (nearly half of all older Londoners over 75 live alone) and the data shows that single pensioners in London (30%) are much more likely to live in poverty compared to pensioner couples (18%).
There are other reasons why London has higher poverty rates. Chiefly applicable for all ages, is the fact that London has by far the highest housing costs in the country. Some of the other factors are specific to older Londoners. An example of this is that while Pension Credit can help lift pensioners out of poverty, up to four in 10 Londoners eligible for Pension Credit do not receive it.
We know that local authorities do so much to support vulnerable older residents and that national solutions are needed if we are to tackle many of the underlying causes of poverty. That said, there are actions that local authorities can take, and we have included some recommendations in the report.
They include:
• Local authorities should review the effectiveness of current approaches to increase uptake levels of Pension Credit in their borough. A review should also consider any potential to adopt new approaches based on emerging practice in other local authority areas. Independent Age and Policy in Practice are great sources for information to help with this.
• Where the local authority has a strategy aimed at reducing poverty, they should audit the specific actions listed for their impact on older residents.
• Take steps to ensure that external organisations and communities working with or led by older residents are included in the design of interventions and in local anti-poverty partnerships. This should include participation in anti-poverty forums, and relevant steering groups.
• Take steps to enable older residents with lived experience of poverty to fully participate in poverty reduction strategies.
• To reduce fuel poverty and its impacts, local authorities should take steps to improve the energy efficiency of social housing stock.
The rising cost of living has influenced the fact that older people remain in poverty and face everyday challenges and, as winter approaches, the situation can only get worse. Now is the time for local authorities to focus on their strategies to deal with poverty and work closely with organisations such as Age UK on a local level to deliver solutions.
