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People in Wales most at danger of dying in poverty, new research reveals

12 May 2022 8 minute read
An elderly lady with her electric fire on at home. Picture by Peter Byrne / PA Wire.

People in Wales are at the greatest risk of dying in poverty, new research has revealed, with 6,600 people doing so every year.

The charity Marie Curie, which commissioned the research, has called for ending poverty at the end of life to be a key priority for both Westminster and Welsh governments.

The research from Loughborough University found that people of working age who are terminally ill are at particularly high risk, with a third of this group dying in poverty, (30%), rising to more than a third (36%) in Cardiff.

Across Wales, in 2019, the City and County of Cardiff council area had the highest proportion of both working age people and pensioners who experienced poverty in their last year of life (36% working age people died in poverty and 23% pensioners died in poverty), followed by other council areas; Newport (33% and 21%) and Blaenau Gwent (33% and 20%).

This makes those who die at working age almost twice as likely to die in poverty than those who live past pension age, with 18.4 per cent of people over 65 dying in poverty The figures also put people in Wales at higher risk of dying in poverty than any of the other UK nations.

Natasha Wynne, Marie Curie Wales Policy and Research Manager, said: “Thousands of people across Wales are reaching the end of their lives in poverty, unable to make the most of the time they have left because of unaffordable bills and a constant fear about making ends meet. The scale of those dying in poverty in Wales is simply unacceptable that 1 in 3 people of working age and almost a fifth of pensioners are in this position.

“While soaring energy bills and other household costs are impacting people from all walks of life, those with terminal illnesses are among the worst affected. They are unable to work as their health declines and they face a number of unique and inescapable costs as a result of their illness – including paying for home adaptations and travel for medical appointments. In far too many cases, all of this combines to create a perfect storm of misery and financial hardship for dying people.

“We need concrete solutions from both Westminster and the Welsh Government and we need them quickly. We want those diagnosed with a terminal illness to have a better quality of life in the time they have left. It’s an appalling indictment of our society if we sit back and do nothing to address this.”

Healthcare assistant, Angela Owen, said: “As a Marie Curie nurse I am starting to notice the difference in the houses I visit. People can’t afford to leave the heating on all night anymore. I now carry a blanket and a hot water bottle with me on shift, and the situation will only get worse I think.”

In Wales, the charity asks the Welsh Government, local authorities and employers to take urgent action to support people diagnosed with a terminal condition, including increasing awareness of and support to claim key benefits and support with fuel poverty, supporting people to continue working if they are able and wish to, and support with childcare costs for those with dependents.

‘Costs’

Across the UK, more than 90,000 people die in poverty in the UK every year, the new estimates suggest, prompting campaigners to warn that society is facing a “cost-of-dying” crisis.

The estimates suggest that in 2019, the latest year for which data is available, more than 90,000 people died having experienced poverty in the last year of their life – around one in seven of the total number who died.

This comprises 68,000 pensioners and 25,000 working-age people who died, from any cause. More than a quarter (28%) of adults of working age who died were estimated to have been in poverty, compared with 13% of those who died having reached pension age.

The research also suggests that women, parents with dependent children, and people from ethnic minority groups are more vulnerable to poverty at the end of their life.

Researchers used a definition of poverty from the Social Metrics Commission that takes into account people’s “inescapable costs” such as childcare, and said poverty can both increase the risks and be a consequence of ill-health and subsequent mortality.

It applies to those whose whose average income over the last three years (after accounting for core living costs such as childcare, housing, and disability) was less than 54% of the average UK income minus these costs.

‘Shivering’

Marie Curie said the figures – the first of their kind – are “shocking” and “nothing short of a national indignity”.

It welcomed recent UK Government steps enabling people with a year or less to live to be given fast-tracked access to benefits, but said the system is failing to keep working-age people out of poverty at the end of their lives.

People who are terminally ill and have jobs face having to reduce their hours or give up work altogether, as well as added costs such as higher energy bills, paying for home adaptations and funding care.

Marie Curie’s report, Dying In Poverty, said: “This report shows that the UK is also facing a ‘cost-of-dying crisis’, with many more people affected by terminal illness at risk of falling into poverty as a result of lost income, higher prices and a working-age benefits system that is increasingly failing to safeguard people from poverty at the end of life.”

Chief executive Matthew Reed said it “cannot be right” that terminally-ill people of working age miss out on their desperately-needed state pension “simply because they are not ‘old enough’ when they die”.

He said: “No-one wants to imagine spending the last months of their life shivering in a cold home, struggling to feed themselves, their children, and burdened with the anxiety of falling into debt.

“But for 90,000 people a year that is their reality. It’s a far cry from the end of life that we’d all hope for.

“We are staggered to see the scale of poverty among dying people. Simply put, it is shocking.”

‘Shameful’

Melanie Armer, 48, who lives in the Scottish Highlands, was diagnosed with terminal metastatic bone cancer in March 2021.

She said: “My biggest fear is that I won’t have enough money to sustain us.

“I have a seven-year-old son and we’re having to cut back on food, electricity and gas.

“We’re having to now see if we can get nurses to come round and take my bloods here instead of going to the hospital – just to try and save money on petrol.”

According to the research, 28% of working-age women who died in 2019 had experienced poverty in the last year of their life, up slightly from the proportion of men in this group.

This rises to a “shamefully high” 42% among working-age people from minority ethnic groups, compared with 25.4% of white working-age people.

‘Action’

Juliet Stone, from Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Social Policy, said: “Our research, for the first time, not only tells us how many people die in poverty but shines a light on who these people are, where they live in the UK, and the triggers, such as terminal illness, which push them below the poverty line.

“Although we expected to find an increased risk of poverty at the end of life, we were shocked to discover the extent to which this is happening across the UK.”

She added that the pressures on people who experience poverty at the end of their lives will only increase as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.

A DWP spokesman said: “Approaching the end of your life is an unimaginable challenge and our priority is providing people with financial support quickly and compassionately. Those nearing the end of their lives can get fast-track access to a range of benefits without needing a face-to-face assessment or waiting period, with the majority of individuals receiving the highest rate of those benefits.

“From April, we extended that support for Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit, and in this week’s Queen’s Speech, we announced similar changes to Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, meaning thousands more people at the end of life will be able to access these benefits earlier.

“In addition, the Government is taking decisive action to ease pressures on the cost of living, including spending £22 billion across the next financial year to support people with energy bills and cut fuel duty, and our £1 billion Household Support Fund is helping the most vulnerable with essential costs.”


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Cathy Hill
Cathy Hill
1 year ago

It’s okay … I am sure that once The Tories and Starmer’s Brown Labour have finished Brexit and fixed all of the problems and injustices they have caused, solved the cost of living crisis, mended the infrastructure and logistics system in the “UK”, fanned their own egos enough, kept all of their promises to the executives of their respective parties, [THIS COULD GO ON FOR DAYS JUST PRETEND ITS ALL HERE], come up with a solution for the energy crisis AND sorted out a practical and effective way to try and fix and save the biosphere and had various lunches… Read more »

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
1 year ago

Back to the bad old days of Fanny Talbot’s Gibraltar Rock or old Abermaw as it was once known…

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