Dear Colleague
We hope this finds you well and enjoying the Autumn months.
You will find herewith updates on the following, which we hope will be of interest;

Campaign Updates –
i) Autumn Budget Statement
ii) Pensions Related Updates
iii) LLA 10th Anniversary Event
iv) Health and Social Care Campaigns
v) NPC Newsletters
vi) Changes to Winter Fuel Payments
vii) Independent Age – Report on the Renters’ Rights Bill
i) Autumn Budget Statement

You may be interested to read the attached Pre-Budget Letter to the Chancellor from
Later Life Ambitions, as well as Connect’s useful summary of the headline
announcements made on the day of the Autumn Budget Statement on the 30 October.

ii) Pensions Updates
Civil Service Pensions to increase by 1.7% from April 2025

Civil Service Pensions will rise by a disappointing 1.7% from 7 April next year,
following the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) announcement on 16 October of
the September increase in the Consumers Prices Index (CPI). This will be the lowest
year on year increase for over 4 years. The 1.7% increase will only apply to Civil
Service pensions that have been in payment for 12 months, otherwise pro-rata
increases will apply for pensions in payment for less than 12 months.
Civil Service (and other public service) pension increases are determined each year
by the annual increase in inflation using the September Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
figure, underpinned by legislation in the Social Security Act 1975 that links the
increase to Social Security benefit increases that are linked to the CPI measurement
of inflation. Prior to 2011 the link was with the higher Retail Prices Index, which is no
longer recognised by the ONS as “an appropriate measure of inflation”. The
expected “Taylor Swift” boost to inflation from the summer boom in the hospitality
sector was offset by the year-on-year reduction in the cost of petrol and air fares
over the late summer period.

The increase of only 1.7% from next year will disappoint many members who are still
struggling with higher energy prices from October, and the continuing high cost of
food after the sharp price increases over the past two years. Also, there will be no
Winter Fuel Payment this year to anyone above the low threshold for receiving Tax
Credit.

2015 Remedy (McCloud)
Most members who have retired from the Civil Service since April 2015 (and not those
who left before) will be affected by the Civil Service ‘2015 Remedy’, also known as the
McCloud Judgement. Those who have retired since October last year will have had the
Remedy already applied in their retirement, but most other people won’t.

In 2015, you may recall, a new pension scheme, known as ‘Alpha’, was introduced but
some people were exempt due to their age, and later this was deemed to have been
discriminatory. Now, everyone affected will be given the choice to have their pension
for that period (from 2015 up until their retirement date, or up until April 2022,
whichever is appropriate) in either the Alpha scheme or in their old scheme. You will
be contacted by Civil Service Pensions, if affected, by March 2025.

See our webinar recording McCloud Remedy Webinar: Video now available – CSPA
Members Area and the next edition of The Pensioner for more information.
If you receive your form and are unsure what to do, please contact us.

State Pensions will rise by 4.1% from April 2025
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves confirmed in her Budget Statement on 30 October
that State Pensions, currently payable from age 66, will rise by 4.1% from 7 April
next year under the Triple-Lock that gives the higher of: CPI inflation; Average
Earnings growth; or 2.5%. The ONS announced in September that Average earnings
rose by 4.1% (including bonuses) in the past year (averaged out over May-July).
There are two rates of State Pension: the basic State Pension, payable to those
reaching State Pension age before April 2016 (with sufficient National Insurance
contributions), applicable to men born before 6 April 1951, and women born before 1
April 1953; and the new State Pension payable to those reaching State Pension age
after 6 April 2016 (and sufficient National Insurance contributions). Information
about the qualifying criteria for State Pension can be found on the Gov.UK website:

The new State Pension: Eligibility – GOV.UK
The full rate of basic State Pension, applicable to most current pensioners, will rise
from £169.50 per week (£8,814 per year) to £176.45 per week, or £9,175 per year,
and annual rise of £361 from April, a £6.90 per week increase.

The new rate of State Pension (introduced from April 2016) will rise from £221.20 per
week (£11,502 per year) to £230.27 per week, or £11,974 per year, a rise of £472
per year, or £9.07p per week.

Although the Chancellor had said that the annual increase in State Pensions will
offset the loss of the Winter Fuel Payment, it is hard to understand how an increase
of between £6.90 and £9.07 a week from April 2025 will help with higher energy bills
this winter!

Pensioners’ Christmas Bonus
There will be a £10 “Pensioner Bonus” paid in December to all those receiving the
State Pension. This payment was introduced by Ted Heath`s Government in 1972 and
has never been uprated. If the payment had kept pace with inflation, it would now
be worth £115, which would go some way to offsetting the increase in energy bills
this winter. Prior to the Autumn Budget Statement CSPA, though Later Life Ambitions
(LLA) had written to the Chancellor proposing an immediate uprating of the
Christmas Bonus to restore its original value and partly mitigate the loss of the
Winter Fuel Payment. However, that Christmas wish was not taken up by Rachel
Reeves. The £10 is usually paid with State Pension in early December.

iii) LLA 10th Anniversary to be Celebrated in the House of Lords
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Later Life Ambitions and Connect are inviting MPs
and Peers to join representatives from the LLA partners, CSPA, NFOP and NARPO at
a celebratory event in the House of Lords, sponsored by Lord Davies of Brixton, on
the 17th December 2024 in the evening. The occasion will provide a platform for
discussing LLA campaigns with the parliamentarians attending. The GS and DGS
recently met with the newly elected Labour MP, Lee Barron (Corby & Northants), who
has kindly agreed to speak, but Connect are hoping to line up other speakers from
across party lines for the event as well.

iv) Health and Social Care Campaigns

Care and Support Alliance
Affiliated organisations were dismayed that the Autumn Budget failed to address
the crisis in social care, or to commit to funding long-overdue reforms. The
Chancellor included children’s social care on her list of priorities for the Spring
Spending Review but made no mention of adult social care.

The prioritisation of the NHS is of course welcome, but the critical dependence on
community-based social care, to avoid ‘bed-blocking’, would seem to have been
glossed over. However, Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s CEO, has recently met with
Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and has told us
that he is working on a 10-year plan for Social Care, with announcements due to
follow.

The CSA wrote to the Chancellor in the run up to the Budget, and a copy of the letter
is attached. You can find out about the CSA’s recent media stunt and coverage in
the Big Issue on the CSPA website.

We continue to encourage CSPA members to support the CSA’s Show Us You Care
online campaign, if they have access to the internet. There is an interactive tool that
allows you to compare your local social care provision with other areas and helps
you to write to the relevant powers that be to highlight any discrepancies. The
intention is to demonstrate that social care is a local issue with a national solution,
and stress that delaying national reform is unacceptable.

Please use this link – Show us you care – Care and Support Alliance – representing
over 60 of Britain’s leading charities campaigning for decent social care and enter
your postcode to find out more.

Carer Poverty Coalition and Carers UK
The GS will be attending the CPC’s parliamentary event to highlight the plight of carers
experiencing financial difficulties on the 10th December, and an update on this will
follow in due course.

Age Sector Campaigns
Charities providing social care services will be massively impacted by the Chancellor’s
changes to employer National Insurance contributions, with many organisations
reporting that the increases in their staff costs will run into millions! This could be
catastrophic for a sector that is already struggling to pay workers the National Living
Wage or the Real Living Wage, in preparation for the Government’s implementation
of the Fair Pay Agreement in the foreseeable future.

We are supporting our partner organisations in the sector with their calls for the
Government to exempt charities providing services to Local Government from the
increases in employer NI contributions, in the same way that public sector
organisations are not obliged to pay them.

To find out more, see the attached Open Letter to the Chancellor from the Chief
Executives of NVCO and ACECO.

Open letter to the chancellor on the impact of increased employer National Insurance
Contributions for charities | NCVO

You can also add your signature here –
Exempt all social care providers from the employer NIC increase – Petitions

Age UK
The charity has recently released an important and wide-ranging report, “State of
Health and Care of Older People in England 2024”. A copy of the report is attached,
but those online can also download a copy here – State of Health and Care of Older
People in England 2024

Have your say on the future of the NHS
The NHS has been with us for over 76 years, but to ensure that it is here for us and fit
for the future, the Government are asking for your help. A nationwide survey has been
issued, the results of which should assist in shaping the new, 10 Year Health Plan for
England. The questionnaire is open to everyone, and a link to it has been posted on
the CSPA website here – Have your say on the NHS – CSPA

CSPA will be submitting a collective response, with Connect’s assistance, as part of
Later Life Ambitions.

v) NPC News: Connections for All – September Issue 13, Health & Social Care News
– September Issue and Rainbow News – September Issue (attached)
CSPA continues to play an active role in the National Pensioners’ Convention (NPC)
and you will find updates on their latest campaigns in the attached copies of their
newsletters.

vi) Changes to Winter Fuel Payments
CSPA’s opposition to the changes to Winter Fuel Allowance payments, announced in
late July, was recently underwritten by the recent AGM’ support for Composite
Emergency Motion 1 (incorporating EM2 and EM3).

Unite the Union, supported by the NPC, are pursuing legal action against the
Government in this regard, based on a failure to consult and the apparent lack of
impact assessments to highlight any discriminatory effects.

CSPA donated to the NPC, to support their campaigns in this area, at our AGM recently
and we have been engaging in conversations with MPs and others to explore any
possible mitigating measures to relieve the impact on pensioners since then. The
changes this Winter will most keenly affect those who are not in receipt of Pension
Credit but who are nevertheless struggling to meet the cost of heating their homes.
MPs we have spoken to recently have told us their inboxes are inundated with emails
and letters from pensioners in their constituencies in this regard, and many say (off
the record) that they too were disappointed when the Autumn Budget failed to deliver
measures to ‘soften the blow’.

vii) Independent Age Report – “Time to Rock the Boat”
Our colleagues at Independent Age have issued a comprehensive study into how this
new piece of legislation is likely to steer a course for better homes for older people.
A copy of the report is attached, but those online can download a copy here – Time to
rock the boat: How the Renters’ Rights Bill can steer a course to better homes for older
private renters | Independent Age

If you have any questions or require any further information about the matters
covered by this Group Circular, please don’t hesitate to contact us, either by emailing
benedetta.makanju@cspa.co.uk or by telephone on 020 8688 8418 (Office).
Yours sincerely
Sally
Sally Tsoukaris
General Secretary
Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance