Households Below Average Income Statistics

Debate between Amber Rudd and Patricia Gibson

Thursday 28th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I recognise that for single parents it can be hard to manage on funds, and to manage childcare and being able to access work. That is why I am pleased that one of the things that the Government have done is to increase the amount of free childcare that is available. I hope that a single mother in that situation would be able to access more work than she would otherwise have been able to do.

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

The statistics show that pensioner poverty by all measures is up by 100,000. The Government are trying to cut thousands of pounds each from disadvantaged older people through the pension credit changes. Will the Secretary of State give the House a vote on those changes, and can she explain why the Government consistently attack and abandon older people, not least women born in the 1950s?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Patricia Gibson

Monday 18th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I have just answered that question, in terms of making sure that we do better and that the mandatory reconsiderations will have additional support to ensure that a greater proportion of those reviews do not have to go forward and so are not overturned.

[Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)]

George Osborne said in his 2015 summer Budget that the welfare system should always support the elderly and the vulnerable. Does the Secretary of State agree? If so, why are we seeing stealth cuts to pension credit for mixed-age couples—a loss of £7,320 to some of our poorest and most vulnerable pensioners?