Hundreds of people have died in Wiltshire facing end of life poverty
A campaign's been launched by Marie Curie to support terminally ill people
Last updated 13th May 2022
Estimates show 1 in 4 people in the South West died in 2019 having experienced poverty in the last year of their life.
A study has found 24% of people experience of a working age between 20 and 64 were poverty in their final year of living across the region.
The research has shown among those struggling with poverty before they die, a lower 10% were pensioners.
The charity Marie Curie, who work with people as they reach the end of their life, is calling on the UK government to give all terminally ill people early access to their State Pension.
Mark Johnson, England Policy Manager for Marie Curie, told us:
"What particularly shocked Marie Curie is that it's people of working age who are twice as likely to die in poverty as pensioners. One in four working age people who dies is below the poverty line in their last year of life."
"What we want to see is a world where no-one in the UK dies of poverty".
According to the study, 90,000 people die in poverty in the UK each year, around 10 people every hour, with one in four of working age getting pushed into poverty because they were diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Of that number, 6,505 of those dying in poverty were in the South West.
To help put a stop to this, the charity is calling on the UK Government to give more financial support to the 25,000 terminally ill people between 20 and 64 years old.
Their Dying in Poverty campaign and petition asks for a range of new measures to help terminally ill people who are struggling with the cost of living at the end of their lives.
Results from the report also show the risk of poverty rises in parents with dependent children, with two out of three of these in facing poverty near the end of life. It also shows the percentage of working aged women is higher than men, and this increases again for ethnic minorities.
The charity says that early access could mean that thousands of people are saved from falling into poverty – including children.
Mark continued:
"The fact is the benefit section for working aged people simply isn't protecting dying people for falling below the poverty line at the end of their lives. What our campaign is calling for is for terminally ill people of working age to be given the same support that pensioners receive.
"We don't think it's right that dying people should be denied access to the state pension which they've paid into all of their lives and expected to support them at the end of their lives, simply because their lives have been cut tragically short."
The campaign hopes to continue to offer help for end-of-life poverty, including greater support with the cost of childcare, fuel and energy prices as the cost of living continues to rise.
You can find out more about Marie Curie's research into end of life poverty on their website.