n By Hajera Blagg


The government’s decision to cut Winter Fuel Allowance – a previously universal entitlement for retired people – has provoked a collective outcry, and rightly so.


Critics say that to limit the benefit to only those claiming Pension Credit or another means-tested benefit is a disaster in the making. That’s because it will deny millions of pensioners who earn above the threshold but who still struggle financially a vital lifeline, especially in an age of sky-high fuel bills.


Even for those who are entitled to Pension Credit, it is estimated that around 880,000 fail to claim the benefit each year.


And what makes the cut to Winter Fuel Allowance even more insidious is the fact that some will be hit harder than others because of circumstances beyond their control. Among these will be rural pensioners, who according to a new analysis will be the worst affected – simply for living in the countryside.


The analysis by the Countryside Alliance, using the government’s own figures, highlights that people living in rural areas face higher rates of fuel poverty – at more than 15 per cent – than those living in semi-rural areas or urban areas, who face fuel poverty rates of 12.5 per cent and 12.8 per cent respectively.


Rural communities suffer the highest fuel poverty gap, which now stands at £778. This is the amount that a fuel- poor household must earn extra each year in order to escape fuel poverty.


Much of what is driving fuel poverty in the countryside is the high number of rural homes not attached to the grid. These homes must rely on coal or oil for heating, both of which are significantly more expensive than using grid-connected fuel sources like gas or electricity. Off-grid homes face a fuel poverty gap of £801, greater than the already significant gap facing rural homes as a whole.


But it’s not simply the higher rates of fuel poverty alone that will mean rural pensioners are hardest hit by the cut to Winter Fuel Allowance. Higher fuel bills are only one of a number of challenges rural communities face.


Unite retired members Scottish Borders branch vice chair Alexander ‘Eck’ Barclay is intimately acquainted with the harsh realities of rural life.


Eck grew up in a small village a few miles south of Hawick, where he lives now. Hawick is the largest town in the Scottish Borders, with a population of only 13,000. The Scottish Borders covers a significant geographical area – nearly 5,000 square km– but is home to only just over a total of 100,000 people.


“It is very rural and hilly here – you’ve got a few small towns and surrounding it all is farmland and forest land,” Eck told Landworker.


After returning home from the army as a young man, Eck soon discovered how difficult it was to get a steady job in such a rural area.


“I had a few jobs over the years, including as a woodcutter for the Forestry Commission and a lorry driver for a time.”


Eck eventually landed stable, long- term employment as a school janitor for the Scottish Borders Council, where he worked until his retirement.


“I was lucky,” Eck said, noting that not much has changed in the Scottish Borders since he was a young person – unemployment is still high, and decent jobs are hard to come by. This lack of opportunity for working- age people persists as poverty in retirement.


Rural areas


“There are many folk in our rural areas who depend solely on the state pension. We’re of that generation when the state pension for many people was all you got. Again, I was lucky with my council pension. How people are meant to survive on the state pension of 12 and a half grand a year is beyond me.”


Eck has witnessed firsthand what the Countryside Alliance reported in its analysis.


“The housing stock in the towns isn’t too bad, but once you start going out into the villages, there are all sorts of different homes – like farm cottages heated by a coal fire in the sitting room with a back boiler. You’d be surprised by how many of these homes still exist.”


Every penny counts – Eck studies the bills 19 uniteLANDWORKER Winter 2024


All photos: Craig Maclean


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