Give dying people of working age in Northern Ireland the State Pension says Marie Curie

- New research finds 2,000 people died in poverty in Northern Ireland

- Working age people twice as likely to die below the poverty line as pensioners

- Belfast, Derry City & Strabane, and Newry, Mourne & Down council areas among areas most at risk

- Charity launches campaign to end poverty at the end of life

End-of-life charity Marie Curie Northern Ireland has described new research showing that 2,000[1] people died in poverty in Northern Ireland as shocking.

The charity revealed the statistics today in a new Northern Ireland report based on research from Loughborough University. It found that people of working age are at a high risk, with more than one in four dying in poverty (26%) [2], rising to nearly a third (29.6%) [3] in Belfast.

This makes those who die at working age more than twice as likely to die in poverty than those who live past pension age[4].

Marie Curie is calling for urgent action to give people who are dying in Northern Ireland and across the UK access to their State Pension, saying that the benefits system for working age people who are dying fails to protect them from falling below the poverty line.

Having to reduce or give up work, combined with the added costs of living with a terminal illness, such as higher energy bills and paying for home adaptations and care, all contribute to the likelihood of financial hardship amongst this group[5].

Alongside calling for early access to the State Pension for terminally ill people, Marie Curie is launching its Dying in Poverty campaign and petition, calling for a range of measures to help terminally ill people who are struggling with the cost of living at the end of their lives.

Joan McEwan, Associate Director of Policy and Public Affairs for Marie Curie Northern Ireland, said:

"Thousands of local people 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 Northern Ireland's end of life poverty crisis is truly shameful.

"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 adaptions 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.

"For even one terminally ill person to spend their last days in this situation is unacceptable, but for nearly one in seven local people to die in poverty is shocking. We need concrete solutions from Stormont and we need them quickly. A good starting point is ensuring people with a terminal illness get early access to their state pension, so they have the means 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."

Across Northern Ireland, the Belfast City Council area had the highest proportion of both working age people and pensioners who experienced poverty in their last year of life (29.6% working age people died in poverty and 12.2% pensioners died in poverty), followed by other council areas; Derry City and Strabane (28% and 11.6%) and Newry, Mourne and Down (24.5% and 10.1%).[3]

Juliet Stone, from the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, says:

"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 force them below the poverty line. We are proud of this work but the findings break my heart.

"Everyone who has received a bill, filled up their car or done the weekly shop knows the cost of living is high and rising. For people with terminal illness the challenges ahead, both physically and financially, are unimaginable. The numbers in our research are almost certainly worse now and will only get higher in the coming months as the cost of living crisis deepens."

To end poverty at the end of life, sign the Marie Curie petition calling on the UK Government to take action - mariecurie.org.uk/poverty

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Editors' Notes

Marie Curie: Dying in poverty: Examining poverty at the end of life in the UK: Implications for Northern Ireland, May 2022, is available at: mariecurie.org.uk/dyinginpovertynorthernireland

The UK-wide report: mariecurie.org.uk/poverty

Poverty at the end of life in the UK (Loughborough): mariecurie.org.uk/povertyatendoflifeintheuk

References for statistics

[1] 2,000 people died in poverty in Northern Ireland: Dying in Poverty Northern Ireland report, page 2

[2] People of working age are at a high risk, more than one in four (26%) dying in poverty: Northern Ireland: Dying in Poverty Northern Ireland report, page 1

[3] Table 1: Northern Ireland Council Area figures, Dying in Poverty Northern Ireland report, page 3

[4] Those who die at working age more than twice as likely to die in poverty than those who live past pension age: Dying in Poverty Northern Ireland report, page 4

[5] Costs rising as much as £16,000 a year: 00962-cost-of-dying_financial-impact-report.pdf (mariecurie.org.uk)

Regional data tables – available upon request.

Definition of poverty

The researchers have used the Social Metrics Commission definition of poverty for this work which considers the extent to which someone's resources, after housing costs, meet their needs. This measure considers so-called 'inescapable costs' such as childcare and disability, which some households face and that make them more likely to experience poverty. It considers all available financial resources a household has, such as savings or investments, in addition to income. It also includes groups previously omitted from poverty statistics, like those living on the streets and those just above the low-income threshold but in overcrowded housing. In 2020 the Department for Work & Pensions evaluated the Social Metrics Commission's work and concluded that it could form the basis of a new measure of poverty for official statistics.

Methodology

The Centre for Research in Social Policy combined administrative data for the UK on mortality rates at different ages, with survey data that allows estimates of a) the poverty rates in the general population at different ages, and b) the relationship between poverty and mortality among individuals and households. The researchers also investigated how people move into poverty at the end of life through conducting sequence analysis and event history analysis on data from the Understanding Society household survey.

About Marie Curie

Marie Curie is the UK's leading end of life charity.  The charity provides essential frontline nursing and hospice care for people with any terminal illness, a free support line and a wealth of information and support on all aspects of dying, death and bereavement. It is the largest charity funder of palliative and end of life care research in the UK. Marie Curie is committed to sharing its expertise to improve quality of care and ensuring that everyone has a good end of life experience. Marie Curie is calling for recognition and sustainable funding of end of life care and bereavement support.

Please note we are 'Marie Curie' (not 'Marie Curie Cancer Care').

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