Having lived through the Second World War, 89-year-old Peter is no stranger to tough circumstances.
“I remember having to dive down into the bomb shelter every five minutes,” he recalls. “We had a radio that sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. We lived on coupons, and I had to go to school in second-hand clothes.”
Peter’s childhood memories of the struggles his family endured led him to always look on the bright side – “we should be grateful for what we have now” – but when the cost of living crisis hit, he found himself dealing with challenges he never expected.
You feel degraded by speaking about this and as if you’ve done something wrong, when really you haven’t.
Difficult decisions
Peter worked hard from the age of 16, spending most of his career in the leisure industry. But when he finally stopped working in 2021, Peter learned that the relaxing and restful retirement he had hoped for would be anything but.
“I was optimistic about what I was going to do with retirement,” says Peter. “But when it came time to retire, things didn’t turn out the way I thought.
“Food and gas prices went up, and everything went haywire. I tried to keep some money for a rainy day, but it was dwindling down.”
As Peter’s savings were eaten up and the days turned colder, life became increasingly difficult. To save money on his rising energy bills, Peter heated just one room in his home. “Over the winter, I lived in the lounge,” he explains. “I’d warm that up and let the rest of the house go. The bills still went up a lot, but I could have seen them go up a lot further if I hadn’t been so careful.”
Despite cutting back on the essentials, Peter’s pension still wouldn’t stretch far enough – and he began to grow concerned about the toll on his health. “I have breathing problems and high blood pressure, so the one thing I didn’t want is anxiety,” he says. “But I was beginning to worry about all sorts of things. Every day I would take my blood pressure and then my smart meter reading to see how much electricity I’d used. I was about five months from not being able to pay the rent, and I was getting a bit worried thinking, ‘Where is this going to end?’
“I wasn’t living to excess. When you’ve worked all your life and you come to a situation like I found myself in, you do feel as if you’re a failure.”
All I had before was negativity. Now I can enjoy my retirement. It’s made life worth living.
Reaching out
Initially, Peter hid the challenges he was experiencing from everyone, including his son and daughter – “I don’t want to cause them any worry” – but eventually, Peter’s fear that he might lose his home prompted him to seek help.
“You feel degraded by speaking about this and as if you’ve done something wrong, when really you haven’t,” explains Peter. “But it got to a point where I had to accept it, and just do what I had to do to survive.”
After reaching out to Citizens Advice, Peter was signposted to the Age UK Advice Line for support. Over the course of a phone call, an Age UK advisor helped Peter to apply for Attendance Allowance. “I couldn’t give her enough praise,” Peter says of the advisor who supported him. “The next thing I knew I had an envelope through the post saying I’d got Attendance Allowance at the highest rate. It was a game changer.”
With the extra money each week, Peter can afford to stay warm and keep his home – and the anxiety that had clouded his retirement has been swept away. “I’d got to a bad place,” Peter admits. “But Age UK has done so much to turn my life around and change my attitude. I don’t seem to have a worry anymore – it’s all been lifted.
“All I had before was negativity. Now I can enjoy my retirement. It’s made life worth living.”
