Don't forget the pensioners

Pensioners chose 11 November to highlight their plight

A delegation from the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) laid a wreath at the Cenotaph this morning, then called for a basic £100 state pension and increases each year in line with average wages.

"The people who died in both world wars are the sort of people who would expect us to stand up for their survivors," explained Rodney Bickerstaffe, former leader of Unison and now President of the NPC.

Their argument is that the government policy of relying on a combination of means testing and private provision is flawed.

They believe it will not provide the financial security which the nation's elderly deserve.

Means testing

As things stand the basic state pension for a single person is £75.50 a week, assuming full National Insurance contributions.

The government's Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) promises £98.15 for the less well off, who qualify after a means test.

Rodney: "We're a rich nation"

What the NPC wants is £100 a week for all. So, effectively, they're arguing for a rise which would help the better off as well.

"We thought we were getting rid of means testing after the last war," says Rodney Bickerstaffe.

"We're a rich nation and I believe everyone should have a decent state pension, rich and poor."

The other argument deployed against means testing is that around 700,000 elderly people would qualify for the MIG top-up but fail to claim.

Some don't realise what is available. Others, according to the NPC, are put off by the 'stigma' of means testing.

Sympathy

Passers-by in Westminster were mostly sympathetic to the pensioners' campaign.

"You need double £75 to survive," was Tudor Williams' estimate.

"I'd say £200 a week," added Roy Clark.

But Jill Lincoln was less certain: "The responsibility is falling more on the individual," she commented.

And Helen Goldsworthy said, "It has to be funded - money doesn't come out of the air."

Soon the Government will be publishing a Green Paper on pensions, setting out the changes it thinks are needed.