Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 1 February 2023.

• £246.5m of Pension Credit unclaimed in London each year

• Thousands of eligible households missing out on up to £3,300

• Older Londoners across capital to receive targeted letters on how to apply

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, together with London boroughs, is today launching a new campaign to ensure older Londoners are not missing out on receiving all of the Pension Credit that they are entitled to during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Unclaimed Pension Credit is estimated to be worth £246.5 million in London alone, with eligible households each missing out on up to £3,300.

The Government provides Pension Credit to people of state pension age on low incomes. In addition to providing extra money for older Londoners on low incomes, receipt of Pension Credit also unlocks a range of further support, including with energy and council tax bills.

The Mayor has funded a campaign in partnership with welfare and data analytics company Policy in Practice that will see approximately 5,700 eligible older Londoners in 22 London boroughs get letters about the Pension Credit they are entitled to but not claiming. Boroughs have provided information relevant to their residents to ensure the letters reflect local circumstances and services on offer.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on households across our city with the burden of rising prices often being felt particularly keenly by older Londoners.

“Many older Londoners may not know they are eligible to receive Pension Credit or how to claim it, which is why we are letting them know what they are entitled to and how to apply as part of my commitment to build a better and more prosperous London for everyone.”

Cllr Claire Holland, London Councils’ Executive Member for Communities, said: “The cost of living in London is rising, with energy bills, rent and food costs at record highs, so we know being able to top up their pensions will make a difference to thousands of older Londoners on low incomes. Using boroughs’ local knowledge and existing relationships with residents, we hope to have a substantial impact on pension credit take-up in the capital.”

Sir Stephen Timms MP, Chair, Work and Pensions Select Committee, said: “I warmly welcome the Mayor’s initiative, and this imaginative approach to identifying people entitled to Pension Credit.  Parliament has agreed that eligible pensioners should receive this extra help.  It is very important – especially in the current cost of living crisis – that those who are entitled to Pension Credit should actually claim it.”

Deven Ghelani, Director of Policy in Practice, said: “We are very proud to be a part of this campaign, using the power of data to change people’s lives. It is great that the Mayor of London and London Councils have taken this joint approach, backed by Age UK, to make a difference to their older residents as they grapple with the cost of living crisis.

“With around £19 billion of benefits remaining unclaimed nationally each year,  the scaling up by London of a data-driven targeted communications campaign for Pension Credit is a great start. It is an example of how councils across the country can use their data to improve the financial resilience of their residents.”

Abigail Wood, CEO, Age UK London said: “Age UK London’s research last year showed that one in four older Londoners are living in poverty so it’s incredibly important that everyone who’s eligible for Pension Credit knows about it and is supported to apply for it. Many older Londoners are missing out on vital financial support that they’re entitled to and will help them to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis.”

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 30 January 2023.

• £110m City-Hall funded vehicle scrappage scheme launches today, almost double the funding available for previous ground-breaking schemes
• Whilst the Government has provided scrappage funding in other cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth, they have not provided any funding for the capital
• Biggest ever scrappage scheme will support Londoners on lower incomes, disabled Londoners, charities, sole traders and businesses with fewer than 10 employees
• Londoners receiving certain means-tested benefits and non-means-tested disability benefits can apply for cash grants of up to £2,000 to scrap their non ULEZ-compliant cars or motorcycles, as well as bus and tram passes
• Businesses, charities and sole traders can apply for grants of up to £9,500
• Mayor also announces host of ULEZ support offers for subscriptions, rentals and purchases of cars, bikes, e-bikes and vans to accompany the scrappage scheme.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today launched the biggest scrappage scheme ever – £110 million – to support Londoners on lower incomes, disabled Londoners, charities, sole traders and business with 10 or fewer employees to replace or retrofit their old, polluting vehicles.

To accompany the scrappage scheme, the Mayor and TfL are also announcing a host of ULEZ support offers from businesses, including additional exclusive offers for successful applicants of the scrappage scheme. This will enable Londoners to benefit from discounts on subscriptions, rentals and purchases of bicycles, e-bikes, cargo bikes, cars and vans from companies including Brompton, Enterprise and Santander Cycles.

It follows the Mayor’s decision to expand London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) London-wide in August this year, which will mean five million more Londoners will be able to breathe cleaner air. Already around 94 percent of vehicles seen driving in inner and central London, and 85 per cent of vehicles seen driving in outer London meet ULEZ standards, meaning the vast majority of drivers will not need to pay. The new scrappage scheme and grace periods will help drivers of the remaining non-compliant vehicles prepare.

Sadiq launched the scrappage scheme today at the Felix Project’s warehouse in Enfield. The Felix Project collect surplus food from suppliers and redistribute it to charities, tackling both food poverty and food waste. He met recipients of the past scrappage schemes, organisations supporting the scheme through ULEZ support offers and retrofit solutions, and organisations representing groups who will benefit from the scheme.

Londoners receiving certain means-tested benefits and non-means-tested disability benefits can apply for cash grants of up to £2,000 to scrap their non-compliant cars or motorcycles. As a new feature, successful applicants can choose to receive a higher value package comprised of up to two free annual bus and tram passes and a lower cash grant.

Disabled people who want to scrap or retrofit a non-compliant wheelchair accessible vehicle will be able to apply for grants of £5,000 to reflect the higher cost of these vehicles. Disabled people can also apply for a nominated driver who lives at a different address if they do not drive themselves.

Charities, sole traders and business with 10 or fewer employees registered in London can apply to scrap a van (£5,000 grant) or a minibus (£7,000 grant), retrofit certain vans or minibuses (£5,000 grant) or scrap and replace a van or minibus with a fully electric vehicle (£7,500 or £9,500 grant respectively).

In addition to the scrappage scheme, the Mayor has listened to Londoners and is providing further support for disabled people, through new and extended grace periods. Applications for the new grace periods also open today and the Mayor is encouraging everyone who is eligible to apply.

The two new grace periods provide exemptions until October 2027 for recipients of certain disability benefits (or their nominated driver) and for all wheelchair accessible vehicles and some vehicles with other adaptations. The grace periods are available to all eligible people or a nominated driver regardless of whether they live in London, and they will apply to the current ULEZ zone as well.

The new disabled benefits grace period means that anyone who receives benefits that automatically make them eligible for a blue badge will also qualify for the new grace period. More Londoners currently claim benefits that would make them eligible for this grace period than currently hold a blue badge.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I took the difficult decision to expand the ULEZ because it will save lives, help tackle the climate crisis and reduce congestion. We have made huge progress in central and inner London but there is much more to do in outer London.

Clean air is a fundamental human right – and everyone deserves to breathe clean air including those in outer London. Around 4,000 Londoners are dying prematurely each year due to toxic air, with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs. It is causing people to develop life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma, and leading to children growing up with stunted lungs.

“We need to get the most highly polluting vehicles off our roads, which are damaging the health of all Londoners, including drivers. The rising cost of living has been a key consideration for me, which is why we are launching this new and improved scrappage scheme – the biggest ever – to help low-income and disabled Londoners, businesses, sole traders and charities switch to cleaner vehicles, or support them to make the most of other transport options.

“The health of Londoners must come first and I know that expanding the ULEZ London-wide, alongside this £110m scrappage scheme, will help us to continue building a greener, fairer and healthier London for everyone”

Alex Williams, TfL’s Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, said: “Any premature death and disease linked to poor air quality is unacceptable. Pollution is a silent and indiscriminate killer that is disproportionately blighting the outer London boroughs, which is why we are expanding the ULEZ across the whole of the capital.

“Londoners are already choosing public transport, walking and cycling for the majority of trips and the Mayor’s new scrappage scheme, the largest of its kind, will support more people to get rid of their highly polluting vehicles and make the switch to greener travel.

“£110 million has been made available to support those Londoners that need it most to get rid of the dirtiest vehicles. These grants will play a significant role in ensuring smaller businesses, those on low incomes, disabled people and charities are fully prepared ahead of the expanded zone coming in later this year.

“In addition to the scrappage grants, we are offering options for annual bus and tram passes as well as teaming up with other organisations to provide incentives that make it easier to travel more sustainably. This includes exciting offers from our partners, such as bike hire subscriptions, e-scooter discounts and car club deals. We would encourage drivers to take advantage of these fantastic ways to get around for less.”

Rachel Ledwith, Head of Community Engagement at the Felix Project said: “We welcome the help the Mayor is providing to smaller charities with the scrappage scheme and hope it is taken up by as many charities as possible. Many of the organisations who rely on food donations from The Felix Project expressed concerns about the ULEZ extension as it meant higher transportation costs. These are very small organisations who survive on small budgets. I hope the scheme will benefit them and allow them to make positive steps to help London’s environment whilst reducing their transport costs.”

Cllr Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said:  “The Mayor is taking bold action to cut the toxic fumes we breath every day – fumes that sit behind the premature death of thousands of residents in Barking and Dagenham and across London.

“The Mayor’s scrappage scheme is a welcome step, but we need Government to step up and support those without deep pockets to transition to cleaner vehicles, like they have in other cities. I’m repeating my calls on them to match the Mayor’s ambition by supporting outer London boroughs, like mine, to make the change at the same time as getting through the cost of living crisis.”

Dr Kush Kanodia – Disability Rights Champion said: We are delighted and welcome these changes from the Mayor of London and Transport for London. I started the campaign 2 years ago which called for further reasonable adjustments for disabled Londoners from ULEZ.

Disabled people have already been the most disproportionately impacted from austerity, the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis. Climate action must go hand in hand with climate justice and social justice, to prevent further increases in poverty and inequality in our society.

I now call on the Mayor of London, National Government & City leaders to replicate the further reasonable adjustments for disabled people from ULEZ. Creating a standardised and compassionate policy for all the new clean air zones, from Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth & Newcastle, to all future cities in Sheffield & Manchester.”

Jim Blakemore, Founding Partner, Bikeworks said: “We’re a not-for profit social enterprise, using bikes to deliver services as well as delivering cycle training to adults and schoolchildren. We had a diesel van that we used for moving bikes around – it was intermittently working and we wanted to upgrade to a less polluting and more efficient van. I’d heard of the ULEZ scrappage scheme and applied. It was incredibly simple: as soon as we’d officially scrapped the old van, we could claim the money and we bought a brand-new Euro VI van – and it works wonderfully.”

Rebecca Dickinson, Charity co-ordinator, Friend in Need said: a charity that supports older and vulnerable people in the community. We have an activity centre open two days a week and we use our buses to pick them up and take home. For a lot of them, it’s the only opportunity they have to get out of house – they join us for activities, games and a home-cooked meal. We have two minibuses and the scrappage scheme allowed us to replace the older bus with a newer one, which is a lot more economical and unlike the old one, can be driven by anyone with a regular driving licence. It has been a godsend and has allowed us to expand our services, for instance offering escorted shopping. It’s definitely something that NGOs with affected vehicles should take a look at.

James Colquhoun, Mortlake Plumbing and Heating said: “We’re a domestic plumbing and heating business. In 2021 we scrapped three vans that weren’t ULEZ compliant. As a business we have to manage our overheads carefully but the grant makes a ULEZ-compliant van more affordable. The process of scrapping the vehicle is very easy – there’s a basic set of procedures to hand in the documentation and then you get the grant. It was slick. If people have non-compliant vehicles that they’re using in the zone every day, this is too good an opportunity to miss.”

Dan Parsons, Co-Founder and Head of B2B, Fully Charged said: “Since 2014, we at Fully Charged have had the mission to better the lives of Londoners through cleaner transport solutions for individuals, families and businesses – and we welcome the expansion of the ULEZ. Working with our industry-leading e-bike and electric cargo bike suppliers, we are excited to support the TfL scrappage scheme as a way to further encourage and incentivise the transition to greener transport and better air quality to benefit all of London.”

Mark Cooper, Head of Business Development and Sales UK at HJS Emission Technology, said: “We are delighted to be working with Transport for London and local business groups, offering fully accredited Euro 6 retrofit solutions for a wide range of Euro 5 light vans and commercial vehicles.

“The retrofit conversion is fully compliant with the stringent emissions requirements of the expanded London ULEZ, and will offer an alternative to thousands of light commercial vehicle owners who would otherwise be facing daily ULEZ charges or looking at purchasing a newer vehicle. Our product delivers an 80 per cent reduction in NOx emissions, making a major contribution towards improving the capital’s air quality.”

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 27 January 2023.

• Mayor and London boroughs successfully work with broadband companies to provide faster broadband across the city
• More than 700 public buildings including libraries, youth centres and hostels will be upgraded to provide better services and increase local connectivity 
• New planning guidance to be published to require full fibre in all new buildings later this year  

Fibre broadband connectivity in London is now at 50 per cent in London up from 4 per cent in 2017 thanks to the Mayor’s policies and his work with boroughs and broadband providers.

In 2017 the Mayor delivered on a Manifesto commitment for better broadband for Londoners by creating the first Connected London team at City Hall to support London boroughs and network operators sign legal agreements for full fibre and gigabit capable infrastructure roll-out.  In 2017 only two boroughs had these agreements in place, this currently stands at 24 boroughs with the remainder expected to sign by 2025.

City Hall estimates that upwards of £1.5bn infrastructure investment has been unlocked through negotiating these complex agreements.

Full fibre broadband means that homes can access speeds of up to a gigabit per second – more than 10 times faster than some speeds available on legacy copper connections. These faster speeds mean homes can support more devices at the same time, with much better reliability and performance.

The Mayor has focussed an additional £10 million pounds on areas with low rates of connectivity, like Enfield, Harrow, Hounslow, Kingston and Sutton who together account for just 4.16% of all full fibre available in London.

To meet London’s current and future connectivity needs, London’s Tube tunnels are hosting a new Connected London high-capacity fibre optic network. This is not only delivering 4G and 5G for Tube passengers, but creating a backbone of connectivity which is reaching further into areas of the city historically under-served by the market.

The network will take fibre directly into London’s neighbourhoods, creating new opportunities for business and domestic usage with gigabit-capable speeds that will support digital inclusion and future growth.

This network will be linked to a planned 728 public buildings, like libraries, youth centres, community buildings and hostels which will improve the service they can provide.

These are currently delivering gigabit connectivity to public buildings which then act as a gateway to surrounding residential and commercial areas.

Later this year the Mayor will be publishing guidance to the new London Plan adopted in 2021 requiring all new homes and developments to have fibre and mobile connectivity from day one. This represents one of the strongest digital connectivity policies in the UK.

Chief Digital Officer for London, Theo Blackwell MBE, said: “Huge progress is being made connecting hundreds of thousands of Londoners to hyperfast broadband thanks to dedicated work from local councils and telecoms companies. Homes across London are being connected to full fibre and we’ll see this grow even further with TfL’s ground-breaking 20-year partnership with BAI Communications.

Every night crews are out laying London’s new full fibre network across the Underground. This is delivering 4G and 5G for Tube passengers, but perhaps more fundamentally creates a backbone of connectivity which is reaching further into areas of the city historically under-served by the market.  Up to 2017 City Hall was limited to handling out vouchers to businesses for high-speed connections, but through ambitious collaboration this has changed and new investment is now benefitting Londoners directly.”