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
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