The government has increased the State Pension age for women to 65 phased from April 2016 to December 2018. A further increase will be phased in to raise the State Pension age for all to 66 from December 2018.

In consideration of these changes and the proposed expansion of the village community the Trust will be making the following changes to the criteria for allocation of Christmas Hampers to senior citizens of South Marston. These changes will be implemented on 1st April 2016.

The changes are not subject to the exact scheduling of government criteria.

• To qualify for a Christmas Hamper the recipient is required to have been in permanent residency in South Marston for a period of 3 years prior to submission of registration.
• All new applicants must be 65 years of age on 24th December 2016 to be eligible to register.
• All new and existing applicants must be 66 years of age or over on the 1st January 2019 to be eligible to register.