Care Free Campaign

To coincide with the government's six month's consultation on the future of care and support services, the NPC has today launched the Care Free Campaign. It will:

+ Reject the use of means-testing and call for care to be properly funded by central government to provide free services to all without the use of rationing criteria
+ Recognise that the use of personal budgets are not universally suitable or the best way of providing the right type of care for all users
+ Demand the postcode lottery in provision of care is ended and replaced with national standards of access and quality of services
+ Call for recognition and support, both in financial and practical terms, for the families and carers of users
+ Champion the need for properly trained, supervised and paid staff to assess, enable and care for users
+ Promote appropriate care to Britain's diverse pensioner population
The voices of pensioners and their carers must be heard loud and clear during this six month consultation period. It seems that everyone acknowledges the growing crisis in social care, but no-one seems prepared to do anything to tackle it. Local authorities have tightened access to services because they have been starved of funds from central government. As a result, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable pensioners have been denied the care they so desparately need. Even those who need help getting out of bed in the morning are being left to fend for themselves. In effect, they either have to rely on friends or family, pay privately or go without.

Care in this country is still treated like a Cinderella service, which has been underfunded and overlooked for years. But those who need the care know that the postcode lottery on access to services, the differing charges around the country, the varying standards of care and the continued use of means-testing are simply intolerable. The government has introduced an artificial dividing line between personal and nursing care when all care should be provided free - and no-one should be expected to sell their home simply to pay for care that in hospital they would get free of charge.

Pensioners still face hardship over the 10p tax debacle

Up to one million older women aged 60-64 will still suffer as a result of the abolition of the 10p tax rate.

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) believes that even the compensation package announced today by the Chancellor of Exchequer, will not be sufficient to reimburse all those women who have seen their tax bills rise since April 1.

Many women pensioners are telling us how this tax change will have a serious impact on their standard of living. One example is a 63-year-old widow who has a NHS pension on top of her state pension bringing her total income to just £11,000. Her company pension will rise but the increase in tax from 10% to 20% will mean she is now worse off than before.

Millions of pensioners above 65 will also be hit. Someone with a taxable income of just £6500 already pays over £1000 a year in tax - but will now be asked to find a further £130 because of the abolition of the 10p tax rate.

These pensioners will receive no compensation whatsoever, whilst women aged 60-64 may not get enough through the blanket compensation package that's been proposed to cover their losses in full. This whole episode has severely damaged the government's standing with older people and the only way to regain it will be to urgently tackle the real problems they face by raising the basic state pension and restoring its link to earnings.

New research reveals shocking reality of pensioner poverty

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, has claimed the latest pension research from the UK Statistics Authority reveals the shocking reality of pensioner hardship in 21st century Britain.

Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "For years, successive governments told us that it was okay to keep the state pension low because private company pension schemes would ensure that everyone had a comfortable income in retirement. But these figures prove that was a myth. A 100 years after the first ever state pension and 62% of pensioner couples and at least 50% of single pensioners are living well below the official poverty line. It is a national scandal, yet the government's only solution is to offer people means-tested benefits and delay restoring the link with earnings until 2012. The country can afford to give all older people a decent pension of at least £135 a week that goes up each year in line with wages. After 100 years, it's time we ended pensioner poverty for good."

PENSION FACTS

• The state pension link with average earnings was broken in 1980. Had the link remained, today's state pension for an individual would now be worth £145.15 a week rather than £90.70.
• By the time the link is restored by the government in 2012, 3m of today's pensioners will have already died.
• The national insruance fund currently has a surplus balance of £46bn.
• Around 1.8m pensioners do not claim the means-tested Pension Credit, despite being eligible.
• 1 in 5 pensioners live below the official poverty line, the vast majority of them women.
  
  For more information contact Neil Duncan-Jordan on 07940-357-608
  
  Visit www.pension 100.co.uk for information about the NPC's pension campaign

Protest over 25p "insult"

Britain's biggest pensioner organisation is today calling on all older people aged 80 and over to send the 25p weekly age addition they receive, back to the Chancellor, in protest at the government's continued failure to substantially raise the basic state pension.

The National Pensioners Convention's (NPC) call comes on the day the state pension is increased by just £3.40 a week extra. But the additional 25p payment - first introduced in 1971 - is now seen by many older people as insulting and derisory.

Thirty seven years ago, the extra weekly payment for those aged 80 and over was set at 25p in line with the value of a bag of coal. At the time, it was considered a valuable addition to the weekly state pension of £5. Today, if it had risen relative to the state pension - it would be worth around £4.50 a week.

But over the years, its continued neglect has made it a symbol of discontent amongst Britain's elderly. Even pensions minister Mike O'Brien acknowledged in a parliamentary debate last year that the 25p payment was "an insult", after his mother had complained about it.

There are around 2.6m people aged 80 and over, and every week they receive this pathetic payment which rubs their noses in the fact that their state pension of £90.70 a week, is so pitifully low. Today, the age addition can't even buy a 27p second class stamp. I think sending 25p back to the Chancellor will show how angry pensioners really are.

This year represents the centenary of the state pension - yet 1 in 5 older people, particularly those older pensioners, are living below the official poverty line. The government has said it will restore the pension link to earnings in 2012, but by that time 3m of today's pensioners will have already died. We need a decent state pension now, set at around £135 a week, which allows all older people to live in dignity in retirement.

Local councils delay issue of new bus passes

Hundreds of thousands of pensioners in England have yet to receive their new bus pass, despite the introduction on April 1 of the new free national bus travel scheme. The delay has led to accusations of confusion and incompetence amongst a number of local authorities, but the NPC is calling on all bus operators to honour the old passes until the new ones come into force, to ensure that all pensioners - wherever they live - are entitled to the new concession.

But whilst the new scheme is a welcome step towards the NPC’s demand of free nationwide travel on all forms of public transport, it does not yet include metros/trains and trams, travel before 9.30am or community transport schemes such as dial-a-ride. Most notably, the scheme also does not extend to other parts of the UK. Many local authorities have complained that a lack of funding for the new concession from central government will force them to cut other services or raise council tax. But much of the problem lies with the bus companies overcharging them for pensioner travel.

The government must ensure that the scheme is properly funded and regulated so that the real benefits of free travel can be enjoyed by all pensioners right across the country, and the delay in issuing bus passes in some areas gives even more strength to the argument that we should have a national scheme administered centrally.

Budget offers little to help pensioners with rising costs of living

Millions of pensioners will struggle to find anything in the Budget that will really help them meet the rising costs of living or make the difficult choice of whether to eat or heat. After 5 years of refusing to increase the winter fuel allowance, the government has finally been forced by growing pressure to give a small increase - but it is unlikely to be enough to stop the rising scale of fuel poverty amongst older people or end the scandalous number of winter deaths amongst the over 60s.

Around 2.2m pensioner households already spend more than 10% of their income on fuel bills - and an extra £50 just won't keep up with the huge increases that have recently been announced by the energy companies. The Chancellor's decision not to give an across the board rise of £100 to all pensioners is also likely to back fire. No-one can seriously believe that a 79-year-old's fuel bill is any less than that of an 80-year-old, and it's about time all pensioner households were getting a £400 winter fuel allowance.

What is more significant about the Budget, is what the Chancellor didn't say. Pensioners are furious with the government's refusal to improve the state pension. Britain continues to have the least adequate state pension in Europe and the promise to restore the link with earnings is still at least 4 years away, by which time 3m of today's pensioners will have died. Failing to mention this or the need to address the rising council tax faced by millions of older households will once again leave Britain's pensioners feeling like they're the forgotten generation. Come the general election, the grey vote may well look elsewhere.

Pensioners want a Budget for eating and heating

The Chancellor will have to announce a substantial improvement in pensions and the winter fuel allowance if he wants to win back the support of older voters.

This April, the basic state pension will rise by just £3.40 (3.9%) to £90.70 a week. Already it is amongst the lowest in Europe and the Government's reliance on means-tested benefits has done little to help the 1 in 5 older people who still live below the official poverty line. Three million of today's older people will be dead before the Chancellor restores the link between pensions and earnings in 2012, yet it would cost just £600m to bring it in now.

In the last decade, 260,000 more older people have died during the winter months than at any other times of the year. Yet despite this and the huge rises in energy bills, the winter fuel allowance has been frozen since 2003. For every 1% increase in charges a further 40,000 join the ranks of 1m pensioner households already suffering from fuel poverty. It's a national scandal that older people are still literally dying of cold.

If the Chancellor wants to restore the faith of pensioners in his government, he must raise the state pension by around £45, restore the link to earnings now, and double the winter fuel allowance. If not, the gap between pensioners and the rest of society will continue to grow and come the general election, the grey vote may well look elsewhere.