UK NEWS

PENSIONERS ‘ON A PITTANCE’

STRUGGLE: Half of all single pensioners scrape by on less than £6,000

Tuesday April 15,2008

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(21)

MILLIONS of pensioners are struggling to survive on less than £6,000 a year, official figures show.

Campaigners for the elderly last night criticised the Government for failing to guarantee them a decent income.

Nearly two-thirds of elderly couples live on a pension income of less than £10,000 per year, according to Office for National Statistics figures for 2005-06.

Half of all single pensioners scrape by on less than £6,000.

Single women are most likely to struggle on low incomes, with 1.38 million living on a pension of less than £6,000, the ONS report says. That compares with 713,000 couples and 461,000 single men with pensions of £6,000 or less. Some elderly people are forced to choose between heating their homes and buying food, according to Help the Aged.

National Pensioners Conven-tion general secretary Joe Harris said: “It is a national scandal. Yet the Government’s only solution is to offer 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.”

Couples get an average of £7,296 state pension and related benefits, according to 2005-6 figures. For single men this is £5,259 and £5,496 for single women. Two-thirds of pensioners get money from a private pension. But this amounts to less than £1,000 a year for over half of single pensioners, the ONS says.

Help the Aged adviser Mervyn Kohler criticised the Govern-ment for not increasing state pensions in line with earnings.

He said: “These figures are not surprising but they do show that the problem of pensioner poverty is a major scar on our society.

“At best we are helping people to keep body and soul together but we are not helping them to enjoy life.”

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO HELP THE ELDERLY.

29.05.08, 11:19am

There is a Petition on the Downing Street Web Site care of the apolitical Link-Age/Countrywide
which was founded by me, Michael Thompson, in 2000, to campaign on behalf of all British pensioners re- a much higher State pension, the abolition of the means test, for all British pension, plus the abolition of the council tax for everybody.

We in Link-Age/Countrywide are calling on the Prime Minister to increase the state pension for single pensioners, to £250 a week, with a relevant increase for couples. To abolish the demeaning and intrusive means test for pensioners, and to abolish the council tax for everybody and tax the rich more.

To get directly to the Petition, please write into your address server as follows,
h t t p : / / petitions.pm.gov.uk/TheUkInEurope

I would add that this petition is already included elsewhere here re- my comments on pensioner poverty so that more people see the Petition.

There are 1 in 5 British pensioners, from a 12 million generation living in poverty in this country due to New Labour continuing, along with other right wing policies, Margaret Thatcher's 1980 pensions policy of linking the basic state pension to inflation, and not restoring the link with earnings as Blair and Brown said they would do prior to gaining power in 1997, they have renaged on their promise to uphold the state pension as the corner stone of retirement in this country without means testing.

So please sign the Petition, and if possible let me know by e.mailing me at the following e.mail address,-

michaelthompson533@btinternet.com

Thank you.

The trouble with the British is that we do not stand and be conted, we should be more like the French who do, as do other EU countries populas.

Some people reading this may regard the Petition as a waste of time, and they maybe right, but we can at least try to help the elderly.

• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment

NEW LABOUR ARE NOT A SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT.

28.05.08, 8:41pm

I have to say to anybody on this site who believes that New Labour are Socialist, is very much mistaken, because New Labour are not a Socialist Government.

Both Blair and Brown came into power promising to continue Thatcherite tax, pensions, and privatisation for 2 years, but they have extended the period todate.

Britain has not had a "traditional" Labour Government in power since the 1970's.

• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment

FACTS THE POLITICIANS DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW.

28.05.08, 8:05pm

Here is further information for all those people on this site concerned about our elderly people,-

The basic state pension is not low because of cost, it is low because the Government in keeping with Thatcher's 1980 pensions policy are phasing the state pension out as the primary source of retirement in this country in
favour of the private pension so young people are also going to be in trouble when they reach retirement age due to our low
waged, insecure, short term work base.

The New Labour Government's Pensions Credit means test system for pensioners is costing 10 times more than the cost of the restoration the
earnings link to state pension increases, taken from Hansard.

An example re- means testing is in Gordon Brown's first three years as
Chancellor,
1997-2000 Mr Brown spent £840 million "more" means testing pensioners
than it would have cost to restore the link with earnings.

Also the Government are sitting on a "surplus" in National Insurance contributions
of £40 billion, which is set to increase to 74.1 billion by 2012.

This Government are happy to send billions round the world, they are even happy to nationalise a bank, ie Northern Rock, but when it comes to our elderly people and a decent state pension that this generation have spent
their lives paying for, suddenly we cannot afford them, they have become a
"burden".

This issue is a national scandal. It should not be tolerated.

The question is what are we going to do about it ?

You can help by signing the Petition im promoting on this site care of my profile.

Thank you

• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment

BRITAIN IS AT THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE EUROPEAN PENSION LEAGUE.

28.05.08, 7:51pm

WARNING
Whether you are a pensioner or a Cabinet Minister or even a Chancellor of the Exchequer -please be aware that YOU will be shocked at these revelations.

Country
% of earnings
if applied to UK average earnings of £411

Luxembourg
83% of career average Earnings
£341.13

Italy
83% of last 5 years earnings
£341.13

Portugal
80% of last 5 years earnings
£328.8

Greece
80% of last 2 years average earnings
£328.8

Germany
65% of average earnings
£267.15

Belgium
60% of average earnings
£246.60

France
50% of last 10 years earnings
£205.5

Spain
50% of last 8 years earnings
£205.5

Denmark
40% of average earnings
£164.4

Holland
flat rate equal to minimum wage
£180

Ireland
flat rate (Actual amount)
£106

UK
flat rate equal to 17.63% of average earnings (actual amount)
£72.50

• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment

NEW LABOUR ARE NOT THE ARCHITECTS OF THE PENSIONER MISERY

28.05.08, 7:06pm

The real architects of the pensioners misery are the former right wing Tories under Margaret Thatcher when she cut the State pensions link to earnings in 1980, 27 years ago. Albeit New Labour have continued her pensions policy.

The fact is that New Labour are not "traditional" Labour either, as many on this site seem to believe.

New Labour have embraced Thatcherite policies since 1997 in tax, pensions, privatisation, and the free- market.

If you want to help pensioners, please sign my group's petition to help the UK's 12 million pensioners.

The Petition is registered under Michael Thompson of Link-Age/Countrywide, and to get directly to the Petition, please write into your address server as follows,-

h t t p : / / Petitions.PM.gov.uk/TheUkInEurope

Thank you.

• Posted by: Robinhood • Report Comment

PENSIONERS ‘ON A PITTANCE’

15.04.08, 10:13pm

Remember, this Country is now being run by the man who as Chancellor once showed his UTTER CONTEMPT for Britains elderly by giving them a derisory 75 pence a week pension rise.

He has since abolished the 10 pence tax free allowance thus adding to the poverty of the less well off whilst at the same time giving to the rich and increasing their personal fortunes ( Including those of his Cabinet Colleagues and MP's Generally)

GORDON BROWN - THE WEALTHY MANS CHAMPION .

HE ROBS THE POOR IN ORDER TO GIVE TO THE RICH.

• Posted by: EmperorMing • Report Comment