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Cost of living crisis: Where Dundee pensioners can get help as some choose to go without heating

By Lindsey Hamilton

March 2 2022, 3:58pm

There are fears over how pensioners are coping with the cost of living crisis.

A Dundee pensioner has told how she is going without any central heating some days – as the cost of living crisis continues to bite hard.

Anne McDonald, 75, is confining herself to one room with a small electric heater on occasions in a bid to save money.

It comes as one group based in the city says locals are facing a “devastating” daily battle over whether to heat or eat.

Dundee Pensioners’ Forum is now launching a campaign to ensure older people know where they can turn for help.

It’s really cold but with the cost of everything rising I am having to make a choice.”

Anne McDonald

Anne lives on Elm Street in Logie – Dundee’s oldest council estate – and has previously spoken out about fuel poverty.

She says that on Wednesday she decided not to put her central heating on at all in a bid to save money.

She said: “It’s really cold but with the cost of everything rising I am having to make a choice.

“I am being very careful about how much I turn on my heating.”

Anne rations how often she turns on her central heating.

Anne says she is often putting a small electric heater on in her sitting room and wearing her dressing gown in a bid to keep out the cold.

She said: “I use a meter to buy my household power. That way I am paying as I am going and know exactly how much I am spending.

“However, even doing it this way, in four days I have had to feed £20 into my meter.

“I’m terrified of getting a massive bill I can’t afford.

Everyday living becoming ‘very expensive’

“I know many older folk who are really worried about where everything is heading. The cost of food is also going up rapidly.

“A tin of soup I bought a week ago for 99p has gone up to £1.14.

“If all your messages go up at this sort of rate it’s going to become very expensive to continue affording the necessities in life.”

Anne says she is aware that there are some benefits available for people in her position but admits she is unsure about where to turn.

She added: “We would much prefer to be sent a letter or have someone to talk to about our concerns.”

Dorothy McHugh, secretary of the pensioners’ forum, says the impact of rising costs is significant.

Dundee pensioners forum — Dorothy McHugh from Dundee Pensioners’ Forum.

She said: “The unprecedented rises in the costs of gas and electricity to take effect from April, together with the rise in costs of food and just about everything else, are being described everywhere in the media as ‘a squeeze’ in the cost of living.

“For many Dundee pensioners it is far more than a squeeze, it is a devastation.

“Older people are much more susceptible to cold weather – their health is much more likely to deteriorate – as evidenced by the number of excess deaths during the winter months.

“Older people are already rationing their heating, wrapping themselves in extra layers of clothing and still worrying about how they will manage to put food on the table – and there is worse to come.”

Campaign to get benefits to pensioners

The forum is now spearheading a city-wide campaign to maximise the take-up of benefits available to people.

Dorothy added: “We refuse to accept that we are impotent.

“While we continue to make the political argument about the grossly inadequate level of the state pension, we wish to encourage every pensioner in Dundee to immediately check on just what they are entitled to.

“We’re asking people to contact any one of the agencies listed below for free advice.

“There are people there only too willing to assist you, real people on the end of these telephone lines.”