A tough decison

November 4th, 2009

It’s a tough decision that pensioners shouldn’t have to make in this day and age.

Forking out thousands of pounds for a new central heating system or facing a very cold winter is an unenviable decision for someone on a fixed income

I hoped we had put the days of older people suffering in freezing conditions behind us when the free central heating programme was introduced.

It meant anyone of a pensionable age who didn’t have central heating got it installed for free and had an old system replaced when it broke down.

Thousands of older people all over Scotland benefited and it proved to be one of the Scottish Parliament’s most popular initiatives.

But the current Scottish Government set a wrecking ball to that in 2007 when it introduced a means test with strict eligibility criteria.

It meant that many fuel poor households have missed out in the last two years, including pensioners excluded simply because they have a modest work pension.

In the last six months, free central heating has been granted to just 15 people here in Inverclyde.

While the old scheme was delivering nearly 17,000 heating systems a year at its height, just 429 have been installed across Scotland since April.

When you are living off a modest income, paying for a new central heating system is a major expenditure.

After much pressure, the Scottish Government conceded this week it is to lower the bar for applicants and that should see this help get through to more of the people who need it.

But that will be no assistance to those already forced to pay for heating themselves because they had been turned down.

Ministers must face up to their responsibility to ensure people are warm in their homes without breaking their budgets.

I will continue to press the Scottish Government to ensure they meet that responsibility and not force pensioners to choose between being cold or poor.