Paul Lewis explains why he is sad that MPs are inquiring into pensioner poverty.
When I first worked for Age Concern back in 1973 there was much debate about poverty among pensioners. I did not understand why so much energy was spent on it. After all, I thought, ending poverty is simple. If people are poor you give them money. Then they are not poor any longer.
So, thirty six years later, I feel sad, rather than glad, that the Work and Pensions Select Committee has launched an inquiry into ‘Tackling Pensioner Poverty in Great Britain.’ Or rather I feel sad it has had to launch one.
Because no politician has gone to the polls in the nine general elections since 1973 on a platform of keeping pensioners poor. But once in power none of the four Labour and three Conservative administrations has done much to end it. Instead they have launched a patchwork of means-tested help and sticking plaster measures that have left large numbers of older people without an adequate income.
The Work and Pensions Select Committee wants submissions by 2 March. Bullet points, they say, and numbered paragraphs. Here’s mine.
1. Raise the state pension to £180 a week. That would end the means-testing of pension credit which up to 1.8 million do not claim though they could.
2. Pay the state pension to everyone at 65 who has lived in the UK for twenty years without reference to their National Insurance record. That would end the scandal of women retiring on a much lower pension than men and give a guaranteed floor to income that would encourage personal saving in pension schemes.
3. Give a 50% discount on council tax at 65 with a further 10% off every five years so by the age of 90 it would be free. It was done for the TV licence, why not for council tax?
4. Simplify benefits for older people with disabilities and make sure they pay the extra costs that disabilities bring.
5. Launch a national programme to insulate and install modern heating in every home in the UK. That would begin to end the fuel poverty that makes 2.75 million retired people choose between heating and eating.
6. Raise the winter fuel payment and link it to the price of fuel.
7. Make the power companies scrap higher charges for people who pay by cash, cheque or prepay token.
This would be partly paid for by using the surplus on the National Insurance Fund. That raised nearly £5 billion more this year than was spent on benefits. And its surplus will total £52 billion at the end of this tax year. And if that isn’t enough borrow it. Like you did for the banks.
Thirty six years on ending pensioner poverty is still simple.
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