Page 37 - Londra Gazete Sayı 1095

4 LondraGazete.com/English Londra Gazete, 03 March 2022

Strike action causing ‘serious
Experts warn pensioners

are missing out on claiming disruption’ across London

thousands in benefits LONDON commuters faced

chaos on Tuesday as a Tube strike
MORE than 250,000 pen- those who think they may be across the entire underground
sioners missed out on claiming entitled to a support check to network resulted in long queues
thousands in vital benefits ac- see if they are entitled.” in the rain across the city.
cording to Government figures. Housing Benefit was not the Nearly all Transport for London
The data, released by the only miss made by people here services are currently suspended
Department for Work and according to the data, with the due to a 24-hour strike.
Pensions (DWP), covers the DWP revealing that up to £1.7 Some 10,000 London Under-
financial year 2019 to 2020 billion of available Pension
and reveals that thousands of Credit went unclaimed. ground workers from the RMT
pensioners across the country The data makes clear that union have gone strike – with
missed out on applying for ben- an estimated seven out of 10 another strike set to go ahead on
efits, including Housing Bene- households who were entitled Thursday, March 3.
fit. to Pension Credit did claim, The strike is over a jobs dis-
It’s a move that meant they pute, with unions concerned that
lost out on up to £4,000 meaning many others missed spending cuts could lead to hun-
out.
The DWP data says that dreds of job losses and reductions
around 260,000 pensioners “Pension Credit take-up con- in pensions and working condi- Street Kensington and Wimble- He said: “Having funded TfL to
who were entitled to receive tinues to inch up but there are tions. don but there is no service on the the tune of £5bn to protect jobs
Housing Benefit did not claim still up to 850,000 pensioner TfL has denied this claim, say- rest of the line. & London’s transport system
the benefit - a move that ex- households missing out on this ing The Northern line is running throughout Covid, it’s a kick in
perts say they cannot afford to vital benefit,” continued Ms no jobs would be lost and it has from East Finchley to High Bar- the teeth for Londoners to suffer
do again with the cost of living Morrissey. not proposed any changes to pen- net and Mill Hill East at a reduced from @RMTunion strikes. I urge
crisis affecting so many. “Pension Credit boosts the sions or terms and conditions. frequency. Meanwhile, the Picca- the @MayorofLondon & @TfL
Helen Morrissey, senior pen- income of the poorest pension- The Central, District, Piccadilly dilly Line is operating between to get this resolved + Union to
sions and retirement analyst ers and acts as a valuable gate- and Northern lines are operating Acton Town and Hounslow Cen- call off Thurs counterproductive
at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: way to other benefits such as at a reduced service. The Central tral. strike.”
“These are enormous sums of help with heating bills and NHS line is operating from White City Services are running on Lon- However, the union responded
money that could really boost treatment. If you are aged over to Ealing Broadway, West Ruislip, don Overground, TfL Rail, DLR, by reposting a comment, which
people’s income in retirement, 75 you are also entitled to a free Liverpool Street and Loughton. London Trams and National Rail read: “Nice spin. What you mean
and it is vitally important that TV licence.” It is also running between but are busier than usual. is that you’ve stripped TfL of
Newbury Park and Leytonstone Grant Shapps, the Transport £bns of funding that they need
via Woodford. The District line Secretary, has criticised the RMT and deserve, and the RMT are
is operating between Upminster union over today’s strike which pointing this out to you with the
and West Ham and between High brought travel chaos to London. only means they now have left.”
Female cyclist dies near

notorious London junction BRC: Shop prices rise at fastest

A female cyclist in her 30s has Det Sgt Rebecca Collens said: "This
been killed near Holborn Tube sta- is an incredibly tragic incident and rate in a decade
tion in a rush-hour collision with a we are working hard to establish ex-
HGV on Tuesday morning. actly what happened. PRICES in shops rose at their in February, rising from 0.9% in day items increase over time,
Emergency services were called "We are especially keen to speak to fastest rate in over a decade in January which is its highest rate rose to 3.3% - up from 2.9% in
to Kingsway at 10:08 GMT but the a woman who handed in the victim's February, the British Retail Con-
victim was pronounced dead at the mobile phone after it fell to the floor sortium (BRC) says. since September 2011, the BRC January, according to the indus-
scene. The cyclist, who has not been during the collision," he said. Shop price inflation jumped said on Wednesday. The inflation try group. The BRC said this was
named, is the first person to die cy- The Met also appealed for any from 1.5% in January to 1.8% in rate for fresh food, which meas- partly because of poor harvests,
cling in London in 2022 and the dashcam recordings that may have February, according to the BRC- ures how quickly costs for every- both in the UK and overseas.
sixth to die in the Holborn area in captured the collision.
nine years. London Cycling Campaign an- NielsenIQ price index.
It marks the highest rate of in-
The Met said no arrests have been nounced a vigil will be held at Hol-
made and detectives are investigat- born in memory of the victim at on flation it has recorded since No-
ing. Friday at 6pm. vember 2011.
The sharp rise was partly driven
by fresh food price rises and high-
er prices for other goods such as
beauty and furniture products.
Many people have been strug-
gling with a cost of living crisis as
fuel prices and energy bills con-
tinue to soar.
The latest official figures pro-
vided by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) showed living
costs rising at their highest rate
for 30 years.
Non-food inflation rose to 1.3%