State pension
increase fails to tackle growing pensioner poverty
Figures show
822 older people fall into poverty every day
Britain’s biggest pensioner organisation, the National
Pensioners Convention (NPC), is calling on the government to
protect older people from the current economic crisis and end
poverty in old age by raising the basic state pension above the
official poverty level.
The call comes on the day (April 6) the state pension increases
by just £4.55 a week for those with a full national insurance
(NI) contribution record and by a mere £2.70 for those, mainly
women, who were unable to pay sufficient NI throughout their
working lives.
Today’s increase brings a full state pension to £95.25 a week
and a reduced pension to £57.05. The official poverty level in
2006 was £151 a week and is now estimated to be around £165.
Across the UK today, the Convention has also organised a series
of protests to raise awareness of the need for an improved state
pension for both today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners.
In evidence to ministers, the NPC has highlighted the sustained
and worsening scale of poverty affecting Britain’s older
population. The latest figures show:
·
Between 1997 and 2006, the number of people living in severe
poverty – defined as living on less than 40% of median
population income – increased by 600,000. The poorest quarter of
pensioner households saw their incomes rise by less than 1% last
year, well below inflation. The poorest single pensioners saw
their real incomes drop by 4%
·
At least 15% of pensioners – over 1.5m older people – are living
in persistent poverty (below 60% median population income for
three out of the last four years)
·
Pensioner poverty has risen in the last year by 300,000 -
equivalent to 822 people a day - and now reaches 2.5m (1 in 4
older people). Two thirds of these pensioners are women
·
Means-tested benefits fail to reach 1.8m pensioners who are
eligible to claim
·
One in three pensioner households – around 2.6m homes – are
currently spending more than 10% of their income on energy bills
and are regarded as suffering fuel poverty
·
In a recent EU survey, only pensioners in Latvia, Spain and
Cyprus were considered more likely to fall into poverty than
those in the UK. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has concluded
that the proportion of pensioners below the poverty threshold
will remain at its current level for at least the next decade,
despite government reforms
·
Up to 9m existing workers have no other pension provision than
that provided by the state. As many as 75% of all final salary
occupational pension schemes have closed to new members and in
the recent economic crisis, around £200bn has been wiped off of
existing pension funds
Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary said: “It’s a national
disgrace that at least 1in 4 pensioners are living below the
official poverty line, and millions more are struggling to meet
the rising costs of living. Today’s increase in the basic state
pension doesn’t go anyway near far enough to help protect
pensioners against the economic crisis. Millions have lost money
from their savings, whilst others see their utility, food,
housing and council tax bills rising way above their pension. In
light of the current increases in the costs of living –
pensioners simply cannot afford to survive. We need a change of
direction in pension policy before it’s too late.”
“For years ministers have relied on both means-tested benefits
and the availability of private pension schemes to provide a
decent income in retirement – but the whole basis of this
strategy is unravelling – with means-testing remaining unpopular
and ineffective at getting money to the poorest and many decent
company pensions being replaced by insecure money-purchase
schemes. Billions of pounds have been wiped off private pension
funds in recent weeks – and up to 5m workers now face an
insecure retirement.”
“Pensioners – both now and in the future – need dignity and
security in retirement that only a decent state pension can
provide. The government should use the huge £47bn surplus in the
National Insurance Fund and give everyone a pension that takes
them out of poverty. It’s not acceptable that there’s billions
for bankers, but peanuts for pensioners.”
Letter to Secretary of State
Pension
Protests will take place on April 6th at the
following locations:
LONDON
Central London - 11.30am demonstration outside DWP HQ, Caxton
House, Tothill Street, London. Protest letter to be handed to
Secretary of State, James Purnell
Lewisham – 11.30 demonstration on Catford Broadway, outside of
Age Concern, including ‘soup kitchen’
Wimbledon – 12 noon leafleting/petitioning stall in the Piazza,
central Wimbledon
MIDLANDS
Solihull – 11am demonstration outside Council Offices, Homer
Road
Nottingham – 11.30am leafletting/petitioning stall in Slab
Square, outside City Hall
Mansfield – 12 noon leafleting/petitioning stall in the market
place
Hinckley and Bosworth – 12 noon leafleting/petitioning stall in
the Town Centre
Leicester – 12 noon leafleting by the Clock Tower
EAST ANGLIA
Norwich – 10am leafleting/petitioning Haymarket Square, City
Centre
Cambridge – 11.30am leafleting outside Market Place, Guildhall,
City Centre
Kings Lynn – 10am leafleting in Town Centre
Peterborough – 10am leafleting in Town Centre
NORTH WEST
Liverpool – 12 noon-2pm rally in Williamson Square, Liverpool.
NORTH EAST
Newcastle – 10.30am leafleting/petitioning at Gray’s Monument,
City Centre.
Middlesborough – 10am at Guisborough, Teeside Complex
YORKSHIRE
Sheffield – 12 noon, demonstration outside Sheffield Town Hall
HOME COUNTIES
Milton Keynes – 10.30am demonstration in Queensway, Bletchley
(near Old Co-op)
Luton – 2pm demonstration outside Town Hall
Bedford – 10.30am leafleting/petitioning in Town Centre
Oxford – 12 noon leafleting/petitioning at the Carfax
crossroads, Town Centre
Cheltenham – 10.30am public meeting (inc local MPs) in Town Hall
WESSEX
Poole – 10am leafleting/petitioning in Falklands Square, Dolphin
Shopping Centre
Southampton – 12 noon leafleting/petitioning outside WH Smiths,
City Centre Precinct
WALES
Cardiff – 10am leafleting/petitioning in Central Market
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast – 1pm demonstration outside City Hall including Nigel
Dodds MP
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh - 11am - Leafleting Princes Street West End -
Protest letter to be handed to Secretary of State for
Scotland
Jim Murphy at the SOS Scotland Office Melville
Crescent. Local DWP Offices circulated with copy of
James Purnell protest letter.
What
is the NPC
