Britain’s biggest pensioner organization, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has criticized the prime minister’s speech at the Labour party conference today, as being strong on rhetoric but weak on action.
Commenting on the prime minister’s speech, Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: “Mr Brown is right to call an ageing population a blessing rather than a burden, but his speech still lacked any date as to when he was going to restore the state pension link with earnings. Whilst he said no-one should live in fear of old age, he has refused to give an immediate increase in the winter fuel allowance and his commitment to better social care will be meaningless if it does not include an end to means-testing. He had lots of warm words but very little action.”
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Inflation rise will force more older people into poverty
Inflation rise will force more older people into poverty
Britain's biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), claims that millions of older people are now on the brink of poverty, following the latest figures released today showing a further increase in inflation.
The official poverty figures show that 2.5m (23% of the pensioner population) are living on less than £151 a week. Up to 61% of all pensioner couples have an annual income of £15,000, whilst 45% of all single pensioners live on just £10,000 a year.
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%.
Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: “Nearly three million pensioner households already spend over 10% of their income on energy and are living in fuel poverty. If you add onto household bills things like food and council tax, millions more older people could be using as much as 70% of their income just to keep their house warm and eat a decent meal[i]. That doesn’t leave very much at the end of the week to enjoy life.”
“The real reason pensioners are suffering is because they spend a higher proportion of their income on those items that are rising fastest – whilst the purchasing power of their state pension continues to decline. It’s a shocking indictment of the government’s pensions’ policy that the number of older people in poverty is higher now than five years ago and things look set to get worse. It’s time the government used the growing surplus in the national insurance fund to pay everyone a decent pension above the poverty line of £151 a week that rises every year in line with the greater of inflation or earnings. In light of the current increases in the costs of living – pensioners simply cannot afford to survive.”
For more information contact Neil Duncan-Jordan on 07940-357-608
[i] For a single pensioner living on the pension credit guarantee of £124.05 a week, fuel, food and council tax bills can equal as much as 70% of their annual income
Britain's biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), claims that millions of older people are now on the brink of poverty, following the latest figures released today showing a further increase in inflation.
The official poverty figures show that 2.5m (23% of the pensioner population) are living on less than £151 a week. Up to 61% of all pensioner couples have an annual income of £15,000, whilst 45% of all single pensioners live on just £10,000 a year.
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%.
Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: “Nearly three million pensioner households already spend over 10% of their income on energy and are living in fuel poverty. If you add onto household bills things like food and council tax, millions more older people could be using as much as 70% of their income just to keep their house warm and eat a decent meal[i]. That doesn’t leave very much at the end of the week to enjoy life.”
“The real reason pensioners are suffering is because they spend a higher proportion of their income on those items that are rising fastest – whilst the purchasing power of their state pension continues to decline. It’s a shocking indictment of the government’s pensions’ policy that the number of older people in poverty is higher now than five years ago and things look set to get worse. It’s time the government used the growing surplus in the national insurance fund to pay everyone a decent pension above the poverty line of £151 a week that rises every year in line with the greater of inflation or earnings. In light of the current increases in the costs of living – pensioners simply cannot afford to survive.”
For more information contact Neil Duncan-Jordan on 07940-357-608
[i] For a single pensioner living on the pension credit guarantee of £124.05 a week, fuel, food and council tax bills can equal as much as 70% of their annual income
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Pensioners need immediate financial help with paying fuel bills –
Pensioners need immediate financial help with paying fuel bills –
not energy efficiency schemes
Britain's biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has called on the government to ensure its package of measures aimed at helping families meet rising fuel bills (due to be announced tomorrow) includes an immediate increase in the winter fuel allowance to £500 for all pensioner households.
Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "Many older people are already struggling to pay their energy bills and the recent increases are likely to drag well over a million more into financial hardship by the end of the year. Around 2.4m pensioner households are currently spending more than 10% of their income on fuel bills, and are living in fuel poverty.
What these people need now is more money – in the form of the winter fuel allowance so that they can avoid having to decide whether to heat or eat.
Energy efficiency schemes won’t help them pay their bills this month and neither will they prevent over 20,000 pensioners dying from the cold this winter.”
"Every time there is a 1% increase in energy bills, a further 40,000 older people fall into fuel poverty. It's time the government intervened to prevent the energy companies making profits at the expense of vulnerable pensioners, raised the winter fuel allowance to £500 and regulated social tariffs to give proper discounts to older customers."
FUEL POVERTY FACTS
not energy efficiency schemes
Britain's biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has called on the government to ensure its package of measures aimed at helping families meet rising fuel bills (due to be announced tomorrow) includes an immediate increase in the winter fuel allowance to £500 for all pensioner households.
Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "Many older people are already struggling to pay their energy bills and the recent increases are likely to drag well over a million more into financial hardship by the end of the year. Around 2.4m pensioner households are currently spending more than 10% of their income on fuel bills, and are living in fuel poverty.
What these people need now is more money – in the form of the winter fuel allowance so that they can avoid having to decide whether to heat or eat.
Energy efficiency schemes won’t help them pay their bills this month and neither will they prevent over 20,000 pensioners dying from the cold this winter.”
"Every time there is a 1% increase in energy bills, a further 40,000 older people fall into fuel poverty. It's time the government intervened to prevent the energy companies making profits at the expense of vulnerable pensioners, raised the winter fuel allowance to £500 and regulated social tariffs to give proper discounts to older customers."
FUEL POVERTY FACTS
- Nearly 90 per cent of all excess winter deaths are of people over the age of 65.
- There were 22,300 excess winter deaths of older people last year, and 260,000 since 1997.
- Almost one in three older people live in homes with inadequate heating or insulation making their homes more difficult to heat and/or keep warm.
- More than 1 in 4 people living in fuel poverty are over 70 years old
- Average annual energy bills now exceed £1,000. This will absorb 16 per cent of the income of a single pensioner dependent on the pension credit minimum guarantee and the current £250 Winter Fuel Payment.
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