Press Release

100 years of war on pensioner poverty without victory

Wednesday, July 30 2008

Help the aged comments on the 100th anniversary of the state pension

The State pension is old enough to claim its own pension and this year should be receiving a telegram from the Queen. The Old Age Pensions Act, now the State Pension, celebrates it 100th anniversary on 1st August 2008.

The Act was designed not only to combat poverty in later life, but to banish it completely. Leading older peoples charity Help the Aged believes such a momentous commitment took immense political courage at the time and hopes all political parties will show the same courage today by committing to tackling pensioner poverty.

Despite 100 years having passed, pensioner poverty is still a huge scourge on society. The numbers of pensioners in poverty rose by 300,000 in the 2006-07 period, a staggering average increase of 822 pensioners a day falling into poverty. Help the Aged is calling on the Government to make a renewed commitment to eradicating this national tragedy.

Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time the Old Aged Pensions Act was introduced, called the Budget introducing the pension a war Budget. In George's view the war was on poverty and the "wretchedness and degradation which follows in its camp." The Chancellor hoped the measures being introduced would see poverty banished within a generation.

Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser to Help the Aged, says: "Many generations have passed since the first Pensions Act but pensioner poverty is still a huge issue. The pension debate must look back to its beginnings in the war on poverty. We have to come up with a modern, workable, living pension."

The national average income in 2007-2008 was £457 per week while the poorest 10 per cent of pensioners struggle on £150 per week. Help the Aged is calling on the Government to introduce automatic payment of benefits and to link the state pension to average earnings.

Mervyn Kohler continues: "The Government needs to take a serious look at how benefits are paid. Each year more than £5 billion in benefits for older people goes unclaimed because of over complicated application requirements and Government departments not talking to each other.

"Guaranteeing take up of means tested benefits would lift 500,000 pensioners out of poverty and 500,000 pensioners out of deep poverty overnight. This could be achieved by paying benefits to older people automatically.

"Help the Aged is calling for automatic payments of benefits to directly combat pensioner poverty. In the past, some politicians had the courage to try and tackle the big problems - we need the politicians of today to show the same courage."