TP299 The Pensioner Winter 2024 Taster

Winter 2024 / Issue 299 / www.cspa.co.uk

THE MAGAZINE FOR MEMBERS OF THE CIVIL SERVICE PENSIONERS’ ALLIANCE

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News

Remembering John McGiveron With a heavy heart, Scotland Branch officers have announced the passing of John McGiveron after a short illness.

John served 26 years as a Customs and Revenue officer, beginning in Liverpool parcel post, then South One, Gladstone Dock (Liverpool container terminal).

He then ‘emigrated’ to Scotland in 1974 and worked for the rest of his career at Prestwick International airport, becoming a ‘trainer assessor’ before taking early retirement in 1996.

Following this, he accepted a position as a ticket examiner with Scotrail travelling on the West Coast Line down to South Ayrshire. An opportunity came his way to have a complete change of career,

John had a wicked sense of humour and we were often on the receiving end of it

and John had some fun by becoming a ‘support actor’ on some of Scotland’s popular soap operas – High Road, Still Game and Taggart, to name just a few – as well as a film with Robert Duvall and Ally McCoist.

John joined the CSPA Scotland Branch in 2008 and became Glasgow & District Group Vice Chair, with Bob Flavill as Chair, in 2014. Bob retired in 2017 due to health problems and John was elected as Branch Chair at the Branch AGM the same year, stepping down from the Glasgow & District Vice Chair position.

John was also elected to the CSPA Executive Council, where he continued to enjoy working for and on behalf of the Scotland Branch members.

There is a saying that everyone from Liverpool thinks they are a comedian, but those who encountered John will know that he had a wicked sense of humour –

Pensions to increase by 1.7%

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Call for UN action Age International and other groups including the CSPA are petitioning Foreign Secretary David Lammy (pictured) to champion the creation of a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

The petition says: “The UK government has a strong track record of promoting human rights globally and our world is ageing. By 2050, over two billion people will be aged 60 and over. Today, older people everywhere, including older people with disabilities, face human rights violations, and the current international human rights framework is not protecting their rights adequately.”

A UN Convention would help to: 1. Combat age discrimination and ageism

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and were often on the receiving end of it. John’s favourite pastime was building scale models of locomotives and rolling stock, a hobby he was particularly talented at. He also enjoyed the occasional single malt whisky!

John worked tirelessly alongside the other branch officers until ill health forced him to step down from his position as Chair, and eventually all CSPA duties.

John is survived by his loving wife Christine.

2. Ensure access to healthcare, social care and other essential services 3. Protect older people from violence, abuse and neglect 4. Safeguard the right to work and financial security in older age 5. Promote the active participation of older people in society.

To sign the petition, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/5c5976yh

Civil service pensions will increase by just 1.7% from April next year, following the Office for National Statistics’ announcement of the September increase in the Consumers Prices Index (CPI). It is the lowest annual increase for four years.

Civil service pension increases are determined by the September CPI figure.

Before 2011, however, the increases were linked to the Retail Prices Index, which is usually higher.

David Luxton, the CSPA’s Deputy General Secretary, said: “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.”

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News

Fury over winter fuel payment cuts A wave of protest from pensioner groups, the CSPA and trade unions has been triggered by the government’s decision to stop winter fuel payments to pensioners who do not receive pension credit or other means-tested benefits.

The move, announced in the October Budget, wasn’t in Labour’s manifesto ahead of the general election in July and affects millions of pensioners.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended the move, citing a black hole in the government’s finances.

The CSPA condemned the move in emergency motions at its AGM in October.

And it was one of many organisations to attend a protest against the cuts at the Houses of Parliament (pictured).

Sally Tsoukaris, CSPA General Secretary,

The CSPA joined a protest against the fuel payment cuts outside Parliament

speaking at the rally, warned that the removal of the universal winter fuel payment – between £200 and £300, depending on age – could be the start of means-testing of other pensioner benefits including the state pension. She said that many pensioners were living only just above the poverty line, and a high number don’t receive pension credit or know that they may be entitled to it.

Age UK has launched a petition with the aim of signing up 650,000 people protesting against the cut. To sign it too, visit: https://tinyurl.com/ywutvzdc – as The Pensioner went to press, Age UK was 83,700 short of its target.

Unite the union is taking the government to judicial review to try to restore the payment. Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said it wasn’t too late for the Labour government to step back from the move. She led calls for a reversal of the cut at the Labour Party conference in October, backed by other trade unions.

Timms says triple-lock compensates for fuel loss Social security and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms has said the government’s commitment to the triple-lock should mean the loss of the winter fuel payment for some will be “more than made up for” by improvements in overall income.

In an interview with The Pensioner, he said the triple-lock will deliver an increase in pension income of at least £1,000 a year. “So the setback from the loss of the winter fuel allowance for some will be, we think, more than made up for.” He urged more pensioners to claim the benefits to which they

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are entitled. “We want to highlight the importance of applying for pension credit; those who receive [it] will continue to get the winter fuel allowance and access to other support.”

Like the Chancellor, Sir Stephen blamed the cut on a black hole in the government finances left by the previous administration. In the interview, he also pledged to help the disabled and tackle problems with the carer’s allowance that have seen thousands of people forced to repay large amounts of money because of accidental breaches of the regulations.

• See interview, page 16-17

The party leadership was defeated on the issue, but it is not obliged to act on party conference resolutions.

Outside the Liverpool conference, there was a protest calling for profits from energy companies to be frozen rather than people trying to heat their homes.

Scams alert: heating help Police, local authorities and pensioner groups are warning about scammers who target pensioners with offers of extra cost-of-living support. The fake messages pretend to offer help with winter fuel payments, then ask for banking details.

Age UK has publicised the fraudulent text message, which implies that pensioners are being contacted on behalf of the government or local councils.

The message reads: “Winter is coming, and we will continue to issue winter heating subsidies to help you survive this cold winter smoothly. Since you are eligible to apply, please update your information in the link after reading the information.”

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Conference report

Blackpool Andy Aitchison, Les Calder and Brian Sturtevant report back from this year’s NPC gathering

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elegates gathered in Blackpool in September for the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) Annual Convention (previously known as the Pensioners’ Parliament).

Rescheduling the convention to early autumn meant it coincided with the change of government and the announcement of the abolition of the universal winter fuel allowance (WFA) for all but the poorest pensioners.

This gave many of the debates a more passionate feel. It also meant delegates could see the famous Blackpool lights on reasonably pleasant evenings.

The CSPA team of Andy and Anne Aitchison, Les Calder and Brian and Sylvia Sturtevant stayed, with many other delegates, in the Imperial Hotel, where all the debates were held. Here, we highlight the major issues discussed.

The Convention was opened by the Mayor of Blackpool, Councillor Peter Hunter, and Barry Todman, NPC Vice President, chaired the opening session.

The theme was ‘The state of the older nation 2024 and the end of the WFA’.

NPC General Secretary Jan Shortt introduced the session and listed the actions taken so far by the NPC. MPs had been inundated with letters and visits from constituents, but the government seemed set on sticking to its decision. She was worried there would be further benefit cuts in the October Budget.

Eorann Lean from Age UK outlined the organisation’s WFA campaign, highlighting those most at risk, those living just above pension credit, those with high energy costs due to disabilities or illness, and the one million eligible pensioners who have not applied for pension credit.

Speaking via an online link, Dr Katie Bramall-

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Stainer, the British Medical Association’s GPs committee chair, gave a video presentation, ‘GPs are on your side’, highlighting the problems we are all too familiar with. GPs are short-staffed and overworked; the solution is to solve the pay and staffing problems.

Labour peer Bryn Davies gave an insight into the upcoming Pensions Bill, which could divert money from pension funds into schemes for increasing growth. The WFA cuts could be part of that strategy.

Privatisation of the NHS After lunch, we discussed whether a digital NHS and privatisation are good for our health. The session was introduced by Dr Jean Hardiman Smith, the CSPA’s health policy adviser, who said digital information can be inadequate, out of date and cause more medical problems.

She introduced Dr Bob Gill, an NHS campaigner and director of the film The Great NHS Heist, who argued that the NHS is already privatised. The government has been quietly selling it off bit by bit for the past 14 years and we have been conned into believing it is being run for our benefit rather than the new owners’. It is an NHS in name only; we just don’t have to pay directly for it.

Most disturbing is the trend of new corporate group practices employing physician associates – who only have a two-year unaccredited degree and are unregulated – to save money. Insist you see a properly qualified doctor next time you visit your GP. This will be an important campaigning issue for the NPC with the new government.

Dr Gill’s arguments were backed up Diarmaid McDonald, Executive Director of Just Treatment, who said the

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Conference report

2024 involvement of profit-oriented groups results in more people dying, with outsourcing causing more infection due to failings in hygiene and cleanliness.

There is much to do to retain the NHS we all want in line with the ideals of its founding fathers, he said.

The next session, which looked at digital challenges affecting older people, was chaired by Sandra Durkin, NPC Vice President. Nav Hussain, a manager at BT’s Digital Voice, explained how the switch from analogue to digital phone lines is being managed. But delegates did not seem convinced, with many expressing practical concerns. The NPC has pledged to monitor the process.

Owen Sloss, on behalf of the Campaign for Better Transport, showed how digital solutions are helping to improve transport services, but much more could be done.

Phoebe Sleet of the Digital Poverty Alliance, which campaigns for digital inclusion, said people who remain offline feel excluded and left behind, and lose confidence. Both traditional and digital means should be maintained within society, she said, so that these people, especially the elderly, can stay in contact with others and not feel isolated.

This would be a far more acceptable alternative to depriving 10 million people of a vital lifeline.

Brian introduced Heléna Herklots, the retiring Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, who gave a comprehensive presentation on her work to represent and enhance pensioners’ conditions in Wales.

She made the telling point that if there had been an equivalent position in England and Scotland, the government would have had to consult beforehand about the abolition of WFA, it would have never

We still have no Older People’s Commissioners for England and Scotland happened, and an alternative strategy, acceptable to all, would have been found.

Yet despite vigorous campaigning by the NPC, we still have no Older People’s Commissioners for England and Scotland.

We therefore have work to do with the new government to convince them of the usefulness of the post.

Morgan Vine, a director at Independent Age, explained the organisation’s work and how it supplies free information, guidance and practical help to older

people, especially to those who are living below the poverty line – calculated to be about two million. The CSPA is affiliated to Independent Age, receiving and supplying information, and finds the arrangement mutually helpful.

Caren Evans from the Unite union, who is responsible for the 68 Is Too Late campaign, encouraged everyone to contact their MP regarding the vote on the WFA and the possible extension of the pension age to 68.

Unite’s research has found that many working people will struggle to continue to work until 68, leaving many customers of the service industries vulnerable to errors, she said. The possibility of the government seeing pensioners as easy targets was becoming more realistic.

Clare Wilkins, from the NPC’s Climate Change Working Party, led the next session and held a quick quiz among delegates based on the key issues and common misconceptions in the area of climate change.

The final session had Jan Shortt summarising the key issues from the past two days. We were left in no doubt as to the enormity of the problems facing us – but at least the sun was shining as we started our journeys home.

Future of the state pension The second day started with the keynote session, ‘The future of the state pension’, chaired by CSPA President Brian Sturtevant. He started by describing the work of the Pensions and Incomes Working Party, which included looking at the inflation rate, the triple-lock and pension credit.

He also outlined the NPC’s involvement in WASPI and ageism campaigns, monitoring occupational pensions, autoenrolment, pension dashboards and the pension regulator.

Our recommendations to the National Committee have helped decide NPC policy.

We had discussed alternatives to dropping the WFA, including adding it to the state pension so it became taxable, while at the same time raising the tax threshold.

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General secretary's

Report Sally Tsoukaris

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eason’s Greetings from (the new) CSPA HQ, and welcome to the Winter edition of The Pensioner.

It’s been a particularly busy six months, kicked off by the announcement of the winter fuel payment eligibility changes at the end of July, which in turn sparked off a round of lobbies, rallies and petitions.

The push-back has not subsided since, despite government reassurances on increased applications for pension credit.

The Autumn Budget in October had little comfort to offer CSPA members, although new commitments to improving the NHS are always good to hear.

Before the Christmas festivities begin, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Later Life Ambitions (LLA) with our partners in NARPO and the NFOP at a reception in the House of Lords on 17 December. The event is to be hosted by Lord Davies of Brixton and will offer good opportunities to remind government and opposition MPs about our joint campaigns for pensioners.

We now know that state pensions are set to rise by 4.1% in April 2025 under the triple-lock, with the increase in civil service pensions expected to be a rather less inspiring increase of 1.7%, based on the September CPI. We must stand firm in defending everyone’s right to have a decent standard of living in later life, alongside our core aim of “protecting what you have earned” in public service.

HQ Christmas closure CSPA HQ will be closed from midday on Thursday 19 December to Thursday 2 January.

Thank you for bearing with us – our staff appreciate the chance to rest and spend time with their families. All that remains is for me is to wish you and yours a very merry festive season and a happy new year, however you choose to celebrate.

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CSPA campaigning

Our work with the Care and Support Alliance (CSA) is ongoing, with the shared aim to improve our social care systems and support carers. The CSA drew attention to this before the Budget by releasing an open letter to the Chancellor, along with photographs of representatives, carers and care recipients outside Parliament (pictured – I’m at the back with a green placard).

The Deputy General Secretary and I attended the National Federation for the Blind UK’s White Cane Day parliamentary event in October (pictured), hosted by Steve Darling MP and his guide dog, the Right Honourable Jennie. The federation showed their film Buses Are Our Lifeline, which powerfully depicts the reasons for their campaigns against e-scooters and the dangers of ‘floating bus stops’, particularly to those with

visual and mobility issues.

We held another successful CSPAhosted webinar on the 2015 Remedy (McCloud) on 29 October, with 350 people registered to attend and a panel chaired by CSPA Vice Chair Roisin Lilley. Panellists included CSPA Pensions and Personal Cases Manager Chris Haswell; Stella Humphreys and Kevin Hughes from the Cabinet Office; and Finvola Harkin and Emma Cocks from the NI Department of Finance.

The presentations, mainly for those who retired between April 2015 and March 2022, were recorded and can be found on our website.

Head office change Our landlords in Croydon notified us in April of their intention to sell off the building in which we had our offices, so we relocated the CSPA head office to premises in Battersea at the end of October.

I would like to express my utmost appreciation for all the team’s continued commitment, and for all their hard work this year on behalf of all CSPA members.

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General secretary

AGM 2024: our priorities Our Annual General Meeting in Kenilworth on 9-10 October drew our attention to many issues of concern to members. More than 50 motions and several emergency motions were debated, and you can read more about these in the AGM supplement.

We are pleased to welcome Les Priestley, elected as the CSPA’s new Chair, whilst extending our thanks to Linda Ridgers-Waite who served us so ably as the outgoing Chair and former Vice Chair.

We are happy to see Linda staying on the EC in a national post, and to have Mike Buckley and Pam Flynn newly elected. And we remain grateful for the ongoing efforts of EC officers who were re-elected, and to others who have recently stood down.

The Wessex Region has a newly elected representative, John Clarke, and I am sure members there will hear from him soon.

This year’s AGM once again provided good opportunities to update members

on progress made on several fronts, as well as to explore new concerns and revisit longstanding issues. AGM motions carried addressed the impact of the recent changes to winter fuel payments, the frozen personal income tax threshold, and issues on the pension administrators, the WASPI campaign, and differences between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ state pensions.

We will keep pressure on the powers that be to address the need for a new, properly funded national social care framework, integrated with the NHS, as a priority.

Lord Darzi’s report into the state of the NHS highlighted the importance of more effective access to communitybased healthcare, especially for those

The AGM again provided good opportunities to update members

who don’t need to be in hospital. But we are disappointed his 10-year plan for healthcare hasn’t yet been mirrored by an equally clear roadmap for adult social care. There simply isn’t time for another lengthy Royal Commission!

An AGM motion asking the CSPA to campaign for more consistent provision of concessionary fares for pensioners across all public transport networks was carried, as well as others raising concerns about ‘floating bus stops’ and the legalisation of privately owned e-scooters on roads.

These issues will now be added to our campaigning agenda.

CSPA democratic structures: have your say At the AGM, I explained we would invite all members to share their views on proposals to tackle the growing ‘democratic deficit’ our organisation faces, and we would really like as many members as possible to take part.

The CSPA has a declining number of active local groups in England and Wales, although we do have active branches in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Closures prevent members from participating fully in the CSPA’s democratic processes. So we are considering changing our approach to some elections from the 2026 AGM, to ensure every member has an equal voice in electing the national Executive Council.

The brief survey in this issue offers you the chance to help shape a more inclusive future for the CSPA. Your feedback is invaluable. Here is some background and advice on the survey and the proposals, but do get in touch if you have questions.

When would this take place?

For the proposed ballot to be held, the necessary changes to the CSPA’s Rules and Constitution would need to be agreed by a two thirds majority at our Annual General Meeting in 2025. If the AGM’s agreement is forthcoming, the proposal is to call for nominations in the Spring 2026 issue of The Pensioner and hold the first All-Member Ballot in June/July 2026, so that the results can be announced at the start of the AGM in October 2026.

extend the opportunity to all members to mandate a national EC of their choosing.

What else is going to change?

We are conscious any changes must be sensitive to the values and networks of active members in groups and branches, and not diminish our support for them.

We are not planning to change our nomination processes or the way we elect regional, branch or group representatives, or how we conduct other AGM business.

How would the elections be held?

How do I have my say?

Members will be able to vote online, using a link sent by email, or they can return paper forms, which will be included in The Pensioner, and return to a Freepost address. We plan to engage a reputable, third-party provider of electoral support to assist with the ballots.

Please turn to page 11 to complete and return our member survey. It should take no longer than 15 minutes. Or check your inbox for an email from us containing a link to the online survey. If you have not received an email from us and would like to, telephone 020 8688 8418 or email enquiries@cspa.co.uk.

Why are we proposing this?

What is being proposed?

An online and postal ballot, open to all members, to elect our Chair, Vice Chair and five national Executive Council posts.

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The EC is aware current structures and representation arrangements no longer allow all our members to influence our future as an organisation. We would like to

When do I return my feedback?

Please complete the online survey or post your paper survey form to the Freepost address by Wednesday 15 January 2025.

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Interview

‘We need a good, modern, effective system’ Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, talks to Helen Nugent about the Labour government’s priorities

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t’s come full circle for Sir Stephen Timms. MP for East Ham since 1994, Tony Blair’s former Pensions Minister is now the Minister for Social Security and Disability in the Labour government.

Timms says it’s good to be back at the Department for Work and Pensions, particularly as, after chairing the Work and Pensions Select Committee for the past four years, he’s had the opportunity to consider what the DWP ought to be doing.

“Now I’ve got the chance as a minister to do something about it all,” he says.

In a long parliamentary career, Timms has held several roles. They include ministerial posts under the previous Labour administration including Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform. In opposition, he served on the shadow front bench, prior to succeeding Frank Field to chair the select committee in 2020.

Priorities in office So, are there any issues he tackled in committee that he’d like to get to grips with in government? “Yes, quite a number,” he says. “As minister, the number one priority for me is making sure the interests and the voices of disabled people are at the heart of what we do, not just in this department but across government, because my responsibility is a crossgovernment one on disability.

“But I also want to make sure that

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we have a modern and effective social security system in place. Something that became very apparent in the four years on the select committee is just how much damage was done to the social security safety net over the past 14 years.

“We need a good, modern, effective system, and that’s a very important area for my current portfolio as well. I’ll be drawing on lots of ideas and thinking from the work of the select committee in taking forward both those priorities.”

Before summer’s general election, a key

“The state pension will keep ahead of inflation and can get better over time” part of the Labour manifesto was a pledge to support pensioners. In addition to retaining the pension triple-lock (whereby the state pension rises each April by 2.5%, inflation or earnings growth – depending on which is the highest), Labour promised to give people ‘the dignity and security they deserve in retirement’. It’s a tall order.

“It’s a big and important and central commitment,” says Timms. “Of course, my colleague Emma Reynolds, the Pensions Minister, is leading on that, and she’s leading on a pensions review currently looking at all of this. But the central commitment is the state pension triple-

lock, which we will deliver every single year through this parliament.

“That means the level of the state pension will keep ahead of inflation and can get better and better over time. For us, that’s the key foundation for delivering that commitment.

“Emma’s review will look at what more we can do to deliver pension fund investment into the economy to increase the returns on pension funds, and so boost pensioner incomes in that way for those who benefit from a private pension or employment pension of some kind. But the commitment on the state pension is the key. That and pension credit.”

Pension credit take-up Pension credit was introduced by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2003. While it has been tweaked and amended since, it remains in force. In essence, it aims to provide low-income pensioners with extra money. Timms is keen to boost take-up.

“We do want to see more people taking up pension credit. We know that at the moment, for all those who do take it up, there are at least half as many who don’t [take it up] who are eligible for it.”

Timms says the government will be doing a lot of work to increase take-up of pension credit. He is hopeful this work will make a real difference to people’s lives.

Meanwhile, problems surrounding the Carer’s Allowance have dominated the headlines this year. According to

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“For me, the rather baffling thing is that all the time they were ineligible, the DWP was receiving alerts from HMRC to inform us that earnings were above the threshold.

“Clearly that can’t be right. We can’t just sit back and let people get into these very large overpayments which have given rise to the high-profile cases you’ve referred to.

So that’s what we’re looking at.”

He continues: “We are trialling a system to alert people through text messages to the fact that they appear to us to be over the threshold. Actually there are some allowable expenses, so it’s not completely clear whether they’re over the threshold

“We can’t just let people get into these very large [benefits] overpayments” or not, but [we’re] alerting to the fact that they might be so that people will be able to check. We think that’ll help with the problem, but there will be more to do.”

revelations in national newspapers, tens of thousands of carers have been forced to repay massive sums of money after mistakenly breaching Carer’s Allowance rules, often by just a few pounds. Threats of prosecution have damaged lives.

Under the rules governing the Carer’s Allowance, people in employment who are looking after a frail, ill or disabled relative can claim a weekly fee. But if their personal earnings exceed a stated limit, their entire weekly allowance is determined to be an overpayment which, according to the DWP, must be repaid. An overpayment of as little as a penny can trigger a repayment demand.

In opposition, Timms was a vocal critic of the Carer’s Allowance scandal. He had led parliamentary calls to fix the flaws in the system and called on Tory ministers to “move without delay” to ensure carers “are no longer subjected to the distress that such overpayments can cause”.

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So now that he has ministerial responsibility for the issue, what does he intend to do? “There is a question about whether the current structure we’ve got for eligibility for Carer’s Allowance is right, and that’s something we’re going to be reflecting on. But more immediately, we need to fix this problem that there are a fair number of people receiving Carer’s Allowance who creep a little bit over the earnings threshold, and therefore become ineligible for Carer’s Allowance but don’t realise it. Maybe there was a pay rise and they hadn’t quite realised the increase took them over the threshold – that’s the problem we need to fix.

“We need to understand clearly what went wrong that meant some of these people have ended up with a very, very large Carer’s Allowance overpayment.

They’ve received it for months or years when they weren’t entitled to it, and therefore are required to pay it back.

Also in the news has been the cut to winter fuel payments, which will mean only those receiving pension credit will be entitled to the payment this winter. This is expected to affect more than 10 million pensioners in England and Wales.

Asked about the issue, Timms points to comments from, among others, the Prime Minister that the previous government had made lots of commitments that were not budgeted for. “Hence the £22 billion black hole in the public finances this year”.

“We’ve had to do some very difficult things to deal with that gap. The meanstesting of winter fuel allowances has been part of that and will make a significant contribution to dealing with the problem.

But given that the state pension will continue to rise in line with the triple-lock… we’re confident [it] will rise by at least £1,000 a year. So the setback from the loss of the winter fuel allowance for some will be, we think, more than made up for.

“We also want to highlight the importance of applying for pension credit, because those who receive pension credit will continue to get the winter fuel allowance as well as access to other support.”

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©HOUSE OF COMMONS

Winter fuel payment

Deputy general secretary

Winter is coming… ... but no winter fuel payments to help keep all of us warm, says David Luxton

S

o December has arrived, along with colder weather, higher heating bills and Maria Carey Christmas music playing everywhere. Wonder what happened to 2024? Are the years actually getting shorter, or is it just that our memories get shorter as we get older?

The one thing not arriving this month is the winter fuel payment to more than 10 million pensioners. This includes all CSPA members, and any other pensioner whose total income exceeds £11,344 a year (£218.15 a week).

making the government more unpopular than they were before, and still skint.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said it would write to all 780,000 eligible for pension credit, inviting them to apply.

So, if DWP and HMRC know who is eligible for pension credit, why not autoenrol them to receive it automatically, unless they choose to opt out, and save them the lengthy application form? Better still, reinstate the winter fuel payment for all pensioners.

If DWP/HMRC know who is eligible for pension credit, why not auto-enrol them?

This follows the Chancellor`s announcement at the end of July that the winter fuel payment – £200-£300 normally paid in the first few weeks of December to everyone at state pension age (66) – will now only be paid to the 1.8 million pensioners in receipt of pension credit.

An additional 780,000 pensioners are eligible for pension credit but don’t claim it.

There are also millions of pensioners above the £218 a week income limit who will be struggling to pay their energy bills this winter, especially as Ofgem announced a 10% increase in the energy price cap to £1,717 (£144 per month) just weeks after Rachel Reeves’ announcement.

The Chancellor justified her decision by arguing that it would save £1.8 billion in year. The Institute of Fiscal Studies then pointed out that if everyone entitled to pension credit is spurred into action by the loss of the winter fuel payment, the government will have quickly lost more than it hoped to save!

Sketch writer Tom Peck remarked in The Times: “It’s tough running the country.

One minute you`re not afraid to ‘make the tough choices’ and the next they turn out to have been a complete waste of time,

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MPs from all parties, including the Labour benches, spoke at the meeting inside the House of Commons, adding their support to the campaign.

In early November, Unite union launched a legal challenge to the government’s decision, seeking a judicial review to have it overturned and pay the winter fuel payment to all on the grounds that there had been no impact assessment of the decision and no prior consultation before it was announced a number of weeks after the July election

Christmas wish: uprate the bonus

Lobby of Parliament The CSPA joined the winter fuel allowance protest and lobby of Parliament in October, organised by the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) and Unite union. CSPA General Secretary Sally Tsoukaris spoke at the rally outside the House of Commons and described the Chancellor’s decision as misjudged, leaving many pensioners struggling with their heating bills this winter. A number of

The CSPA, with our partner organisations in Later Life Ambition (LLA), wrote to the Chancellor prior to her Autumn Budget, urging her to bring in mitigating measures to help pensioners struggling with their bills this winter.

We proposed that the £10 annual pensioner bonus, payable in December, should be uprated to £115 in line with inflation since it was first introduced by Ted Heath in 1972, as this would provide some immediate practical help for pensioners this winter. Sadly, that was a Christmas wish that won’t come true in December.

So as Christmas approaches, and we enter the season of goodwill, cheer and merriment – hopefully that’s all before the gas bill arrives – what can we look forward to in 2025?

Well, we can look forward to Oasis performing together in July next year after a 25-year break. Looks like they’re returning to work after early rock‘n’roll retirement, having decided in later life they need to earn some more money.

The Gallagher brothers certainly got that extra cash, with Oasis ticket prices doubling as people queued online to buy them in the summer.

They call this ‘surge pricing’. I wonder why, in that case, we can’t have ‘surge pensions’ that increase in response to

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Deputy general secretary

AGM report

How much do we need?

So how much income do you need to enjoy retirement? The Resolution Foundation and Living Wage Foundation published a report in September on the income needed to get by in retirement, bearing in mind the cost-of-living crisis. Their ‘living pension rate’ takes account of different personal circumstances, such as whether you own your own home or are renting, and calculates the income you will need based on a minimum income standard.

According to the report, a single, homeowning pensioner would need an annual income of £13,500 (£258 a week), while a pensioner couple owning their own home would need an annual income of £20,600 (£395 a week).

Pensioners who don’t own

TOM ROSE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, HITESH KAPUR / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The average annual income for the living pension is £19,300 energy shocks and sudden increases in the weekly shopping bill?

We can at least look forward to the 4.1% increase in state pensions from 7 April, although disappointingly only a 1.7% increase in civil service pensions.

In response to the furore over the winter fuel payment, the Chancellor pointed to a £470 annual increase in the new state pension of £11,502 from April 2025, due to the government`s commitment to retain the pension triple-lock, (reflecting the annual growth in average earnings).

She argued this

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their own home would need a substantially higher income. A single pensioner living in the private sector would need an extra £6,900 a year than a homeowner for an acceptable standard of living, the report says.

Taking into account all the different housing circumstances, the report concludes that the average annual income required as the living pension target is £19,300 (£371 per week).

The average civil service pension is £10,200 a year, which, added to the basic (pre-2016) state pension, gives a total of £19,014 (before tax). But for women, the average civil service pension is much lower, at £7,600, giving a total income of £16,414.

Contrary to media myth, civil servants do not have ‘gold-plated’ pensions. That is why the winter fuel payment and other benefits are important to so many people in retirement. It’s the difference between thriving and surviving.

would offset the loss of the winter fuel payment – conveniently overlooking the fact that around three-quarters of current pensioners, including most CSPA members, are on the lower basic rate of state pension of £8,814 (pre-2016), which rises by £361 a year from April, or an extra £6.90 a week. Receiving an extra £6.90 a week (before tax) in April next year will not help with the increased energy bills this winter. “Don’t look back in anger”, do I hear you say?

The civil service pension increase of 1.7% from 7 April, based on the annual rise in the

The CSPA Annual General Meeting in October debated all the pension and tax issues discussed on these pages, with group and branch representatives from across our membership. It also set our programme of campaigning and policy priorities for the coming year. You can read a summary of the debates and presentations in the supplement with this issue of The Pensioner.

September Consumer Prices Index (CPI), will be a disappointment to many CSPA members, especially after the rises of the past two years in response to the sharp increase in inflation from 2022.

And with tax thresholds continuing to be frozen until 2028, more and more of your annual pension increase will be taken in tax, as the threshold will remain at £12,570 for another three years.

Christmas greetings As we come into the Christmas period, do remember the CSPA is here for you all year round, seeking to protect your pension and promote your wellbeing in retirement.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and happy 2025.

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Campaigning

T

his year, a woman in Amsterdam won a nine-year battle to overturn a fine she’d received for urinating in an alleyway late at night because bars and restaurants had closed. Though there was a men’s urinal in the area, the nearest public toilet for women was 2km away.

Gert Steining, then 21, received a £180 fine for being caught short.

Angry at this “unfairness” and “injustice”, Steining challenged the fine, pointing out in a letter that the city had 35 public urinals for men but only three public toilets for women, and that more accessible public toilets were needed for everyone, including wheelchair users.

Her letter went unanswered - but two years later, she was summoned to court to pay the fine. The case attracted wide media coverage and prompted a campaign for more public toilets for women, which gathered momentum after the judge told Steining she should have made use of a men’s urinal.

His comments led to derision and petitions against “sanitary sexism”. But then changes were made, introducing mobile toilets in parks and wheelchairaccessible toilets in Amsterdam from October as part of a €2 million investment in public toilets. A victory at long last!

Local campaigns This summer in London, a member of the Loos for Southwark campaign group told a council meeting that all she wanted for her 96th birthday was “more public toilets”. As she pointed out: “The dogs can wee but women can’t.”

The group told the council the lack of public toilets can trap people at home and stop many from leading the life they want to. It can exacerbate social isolation and impact the local economy as well, as people spend less time out shopping.

As a result, the council has promised to develop, with the campaigners, a toilet plan for the borough. Such groups can be found in towns and cities throughout the UK and nationally, including the not-forprofit British Toilet Association (BTA), which has created a toilet map.

BTA works with the Changing Places Charter Group and others including Muscular Dystrophy, Scottish inclusivity

Between 2010 and 2019, 700 council-run public toilets were closed 12

Desperate for the loo?

Jenny Sims focuses in on the shortage of public toilets and what campaigners are doing about it charity PAMIS and the Centre for Accessible Environments “to promote and increase the overall provision of Changing Places Toilets throughout the UK”.

Changing Places toilets in England are larger accessible toilets with equipment for people who cannot use standard accessible toilets; there are 1,800 of these facilities registered in the UK. The best known campaign group, however, is likely to be Age UK. In 2022,

Age UK London published a report, London Loos, recommending what London boroughs can do to remedy the situation.

Earlier studies detail the decline and disappearance of public toilets, including Taking the P*** from the Royal Society for Public Health in 2019, which found that since 2010, 700 council-run public toilets had closed. Many more have closed since.

The RSPH described the lack of public toilets as a “urinary leash” affecting one in

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PETE STUART / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Great British Toilet Map The Great British Public Toilet Map, run by Public Convenience (toiletmap.org.uk), aims to map all publicly accessible toilets. These include: • Public toilets such as these in Windermere (pictured) • Toilets in train, bus and petrol stations, Tube stations, ferry terminals, airports and other transport networks • Shopping centre toilets • Toilets in public buildings such as town halls, libraries, hospitals, museums and leisure centres • Toilets in other businesses where the business agrees the public can use their toilets without having to buy anything. These are often part of Community Toilet Schemes run by councils and can include shops, cafes, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and pubs.

The researchers say: “We try not to show toilets where you need to ask permission to use it or are for customers

five people, and that the lack of facilities stopped people from leaving their homes.

The London Loos survey, which polled 600 toilet users, validated these findings.

The report claims: “Nine in 10 Londoners have considered toilet provision before making a journey to a particular place.”

Why? Because at the time of the survey there were only 1,500 public toilets in London to meet the needs of more than eight million people – fewer than one per 5,000 Londoners.

Out and About The London Loos report was part of Age UK’s Out and About campaign to tackle social isolation by improving community infrastructure such as public toilet provision – “so older Londoners feel able to get out, maintain friendships and other social connections and do the things they want to do”. It aims to halt the long-term decline in the number of public toilets, setting out several recommendations for London boroughs: • Develop a strategy for public toilet provision across the borough as part of the council’s public health responsibilities.

• Identify an officer responsible for developing and monitoring toilet provision – with information about the location of public toilets, including maps, and monitoring the accessibility of toilets for disabled people.

• Introduce community toilet schemes

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only. The exception is platform toilets at stations. These are only accessible to ticket-holders but we feel it is still useful information, especially as many trains have no toilets on board.

If you have any problems updating the toilets, or wish to send us toilet details or comments, contact gbtoiletmap@gmail.com.”

The Campaign for Public Infrastructure is calling for investment in civic facilities in designated town centres and other places of need based on consultation with older residents and learning from successful models nationwide.

• Where community toilet schemes already exist, work with businesses and the wider community to strengthen provision – reviewing schemes and incentivising more businesses to join.

• Promote public information resources such as the Great British Toilet Map (see box) and Changing Places Toilet Map. • Deliver a public campaign to raise awareness of toilet locations.

• Review local signage and maps.

An Age UK London spokesman said: “We believe awareness about the lack of public toilets has increased over the past few years. Everyone benefits from improved provision, some more than others. It’s a complicated issue and much needs to be done, but we are pleased to have made a significant contribution to raising awareness about the issue.

The Campaign for Public Infrastructure (CFPI), which advocates for investment in civic facilities, has published a briefing paper offering other solutions.

“A lack of political will, shrinking local authority budgets and limited incentives have resulted in environments that

prevent people from leaving their homes, restricting access to work, leisure and social interactions,” it says. “The UK has a profound opportunity to invest in public space to ensure accessibility and inclusion and promote activity.”

It urges the UK government to “embed public toilet investment within infrastructure funding bids by defining processes for valuation within the Treasury Green Book”. In 2020, the Green Book was revised, requiring proposals to consider place-based impacts.

Other opportunities The CFPI has some other suggestions: • Provide consistent maintenance resourcing and accountability for public toilets through the Public Health Outcomes Framework and ringfenced grant.

• Create a model of public toilet accessibility financing by building on the success of the Changing Places Fund.

Its report ends on a note of optimism, however. “By empowering local authorities to resource public toilets and establishing robust accountability, the CFPI asserts that widespread concerns of vulnerable communities regarding the accessibility and appeal of public spaces can be addressed.”

Gert Steining’s voice was finally heard in Amsterdam. We can only hope that the voices of UK campaigners will eventually be listened to as well.

13

Connect

Tricks or treats?

Matthew Boyd dissects the first Labour Budget in 14 years

winter fuel payments for most pensioners.

Pensioners on fixed incomes are always vulnerable to Treasury measures that fluctuate with inflation. And given that Reeves managed to take from pensioners in her first 100 days, sparked concerns of further tax raids and cuts to support.

Later Life Ambitions has worked hard to ensure those concerns were heard in the Treasury through correspondence with ministers and officials and via the media.

Ensuring older people’s priorities stay at the forefront of ministerial minds is key, as is appointing a Commissioner for Older People (as in Wales and Northern Ireland).

LLA will continue to make the case for that in meetings with MPs into next year.

Budget pros and cons The Budget was a mixed picture for older people. The top line was that the triplelock was retained – other benefits rise by 1.7% next year, and the state pension and pension credit by 4.1%.

This is not to be taken for granted.

There’s plenty of speculation that the Treasury doesn’t like the triple-lock and it was only ever meant to be temporary.

At least one MP hinted that it ought to be scrapped in the Budget debate.

Later Life Ambitions put the triple-lock front and centre of our election manifesto;

14

all parties agreed to maintain it and we will continue to make the case for it.

Unfortunately, there was plenty in the Budget for older people to dislike. Bus fares remain capped – but at £3 rather than £2 from next year. Tax bands are to be unfrozen, but not until 2028. That means more pensioners paying tax on their pension in the next few years.

And there was no u-turn on the winter fuel payment policy. It will be means-tested and denied to millions of pensioners. Many pensioners that are eligible are missing out because they have not applied for pension credit.

It would have been good to see the Chancellor use her platform to drive uptake among those eligible to claim it – better still if she’d extended the winter fuel payment to those who receive housing benefit, for example.

But for all the policies that impact older people, it was employers who were clobbered hardest. The Chancellor whacked up National Insurance Contributions for employers and lowered the threshold at which they kick in.

Reeves justified a package of taxes that totalled £40 billion not just to fix the nation’s finances but to start spending on government priorities – primarily schools and the NHS. Improvements to the

latter benefit almost everyone, so will be welcome if and when they take shape.

Similarly, if Reeves achieves her goal of increased economic growth, then the whole of society, from youngest to oldest, ought to benefit in some form.

The dust may have settled on the Budget, but it is only the start of Reeves’ term at the Treasury. The government is now conducting a spending review and Later Life Ambitions will be looking for opportunities to feed into that to ensure older people’s priorities are protected and promoted.

LLA anniversary We are holding a parliamentary event before Christmas to mark 10 years since the formation of Later Life Ambitions.

That will be an opportunity to look back on our successes, but more importantly to meet some of the hundreds of new MPs elected this summer and to make our case to ensure that older people’s interests remain on their minds when making and voting on policy.

• Matthew Boyd is a senior account executive at the CSPA’s public affairs consultancy, Connect.

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FRED DUVAL / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

A

Labour Chancellor has not delivered a Budget since 2010.

This autumn, all eyes were on the nation’s first female Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to see what she would do with the levers of power in the Treasury.

Reeves faced a difficult task and a tricky tightrope when she got to her feet in the Commons at the end of October.

Choosing to hold the Budget on the day before Halloween was always going to be a gift for headline-writers – but would she have more treats than tricks?

Almost from her first day in the job, Reeves had been setting the scene for her Budget, mainly by warning us all about the ‘£22 billion black hole’. And it only took her a few weeks to take her first step in filling that hole – by axing

Book review

The big question...

Christine Williams on a book which sets out to answer something that many people ask

D

r Ellen Welch is a practising GP, mum and past co-chair of the Doctors’ Association UK. She is also the author of books about the NHS and a journalist for several newspapers.

In her latest book, Why can’t I see my GP?, she has collected stories from GPs practising in several countries, including many at home here in the UK. The book recalls the beginnings of the NHS and continues through the major changes that have altered the way GPs and their medical practices have operated through the years.

Most of us will be unaware of the nature of these changes, although the impact of some of them is evident to patients. The increasing pressures they have imposed on doctors, practice nurses and their staff are significant.

The book explains how GP practices operate, their different organisational models and how they are funded. It also explains how GPs are trained, which comes after they have achieved their medical degrees and completed hospital experience – at significant cost and years of training.

It debunks the myths that are often promulgated in the media, incorrectly and often in an inflammatory manner, about ‘part-time’ GPs. It explains how so much of their statutory workload isn’t about seeing patients at all; it’s about the tasks dictated by government and regulatory bodies, such as managing imposed targets, a top-down inspection regime, repeated re-registrations (often at high cost to the GP), the extra workload caused by our

overloaded hospital and care systems and more. Patients are finding it increasingly difficult to access GP services, in spite of an increase of 3,528 registered GPs in the UK between 2019 and 2022 (most recent figures available).

The book further describes how the UK’s NHS system has reached a crisis point, leaving doctors and staff struggling to cope, often to the detriment of their own mental wellbeing, increasing the risks to the safe and effective treatment of their patients.

Family breakdowns are common and the brain-drain of trained and experienced GPs out to private practice or to work abroad is accelerating. It’s likened to a

This compact book, at 144 pages plus notes, is packed with information leaky bucket – as soon as new GPs are fully trained, often with six-figure student loans accumulated, more leave to work elsewhere, retire or leave altogether because of the pressures.

Search for solutions The final chapter contains several wellfashioned suggestions from GPs and their medical teams for the ways in which primary care can be set right again, for the benefit of medics and patients alike.

This compact book, only 144 pages plus end notes, is packed with information and is a necessary read for everyone who has ever found it difficult to navigate

the complex systems of GP and NHS services. It’s an important treatise, too, for politicians and government officials of every stripe.

We, as pensioners, have a duty to equip ourselves with knowledge and press for necessary changes. Poor care and harm to patients cost the NHS, according to arm’s length body NHS Resolution, £5.1 billion in compensations in 2023/24. This included legal costs but not the hidden costs of funding investigations nor the emotional grief and harm caused to damaged patients and their relatives.

How much more could be done with that money, or even a part of it, if the cause of those harms were avoided in the first place? Is a system of fines that reduces NHS funding the right way to affect the “learning” we’re so often promised? These questions, and many others, should be considered by our new MPs. The area where you live might be blessed with caring GPs and their medical and administrative staff, but not everyone is so fortunate. Perhaps our new MPs could be persuaded to read this book and do everything possible in Parliament to urge the reforms that are so very necessary.

Write to your MP, if you haven’t done so already, and ask their position on these matters. Add your voice. Together, we can be powerful.

Why can’t I see my GP? is published by the University of Wales Press £16.99 (all proceeds to DAUK) ISBN 97-1-915279-46-0

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15

Last word

Something else that annoys me…

Chris Proctor explains why he’s determined to stay on dry land in his retirement

W

hy do people keep telling me I should go on a cruise? Why do they assume the moment I stop going to the office I’ll be desperate to loll on a boat idling round the briny?

If I want to stare out at a flat expanse of Adam’s ale I can do this from a hotel window in Scarborough – which is safe, easy to get to and offers exactly the same view as from a ship.

Sea is sea – but perhaps not blue. I’ve seen brown, grey and green sea but I draw a blank at blue. If you think the sea’s blue you’re either wearing tinted sunglasses, you’re colour blind or you’ve been taken in by the Cliff Richards song.

Of course, they tell me I haven’t seen all the seas of the world, which is ridiculous.

Of course I have. There’s only one sea, it just goes round and round to different places. I can’t see why I should sit on a boat to prove it.

In fact, the only highlight of staring at the sea is that sometimes the tedium is eased by an outbreak of white surfy stuff that disappears the moment you look at it. And, assuming you want to see them, where’s the best place to examine rollers or breakers or waves? The coast. Not stuck on a ship in the middle of nowhere.

‘It would do you good.’ What would?

‘Sea air.’ So what’s in Scarborough? The aroma of Amazonian rain forest? The breeze of the Italian Alps? The scent of Japanese cherry trees? No. You get sea air in Scarborough, and plenty of it.

My partner Amanda and I were once in northern Spain and agreed to meet a couple of friends who were on a cruise ship stopping in Vigo for the day. We walked to the port but couldn’t find their craft. ‘It’ll

be the other side of that office block,’ I told Amanda. The office block turned out to be their ship. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like Birmingham in a biblical flood.

To my annoyance, Fran and Kevin hopped off looking breezy and perky.

I’d hoped to see them disgruntled and unsteady. Worse, as we arrived they stood side by side and launched into a dance routine, full of twirls and pirouettes.

I was appalled at them. ‘We learned it yesterday,’ Fran beamed. ‘It’s a Strictly Come Dancing cruise.’ I felt as queasy as if I, not they, had been on the high seas for a fortnight.

You think that’s bad? Shortly after, two other friends, having endured a similar maritime ordeal, invited us to dinner. Even before we’d been offered a glass of plonk they picked up ukuleles – ‘ruddy ukuleles’ as I call them – and plonked out a rendition of I Get A Kick Out Of You. They’d learned it at sea.

God knows what they were on – a George Formby cruise?

Quite apart from all this, my dad was on a ship that was torpedoed in 1942 and I always think you can’t be too careful at my age.

He ended up in a lifeboat that was washed up on a

There’s only one sea, it just goes round and round to different places. I can’t see why I should sit on a boat to prove it 16

Cape Verde island, where he contrived to remain for most of the next three years (proof of the ‘cloud-silver-lining’ theory, I suppose). Anyway, I consider myself something of an expert on sea travel from a nautical father and a few outings in a pedalo at Southport Boating Lake.

Despite my objections, I regret to say the question of cruising still hangs over my retirement plans. Other Forces, as we’ll call her, is poised over a brochure as I type this, mentioning deck quoits.

Strangely enough, I received heartening news from Belfast. Apparently some cruise was meant to be setting off round the world but technical difficulties kept delaying departure and it spent four months in port. ‘Ill-fated’, the newspapers called it. ‘Cursed’ one said. I thought it sounded marvellous.

Just my sort of voyage.

I wouldn’t choose Belfast, but Southampton, say, I could look forward to.

Lots of places to visit nearby – Stonehenge, the New Forest, the Pilgrim Fathers and Mayflower Walking Tour, the Motor Museum at Beaulieu...

I’ve not actually put this compromise position to her yet as I want to do some research into availability, costs and locations before committing myself. But I think it will show her I’m not the sort of person to reject lunatic plans without due consideration.

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