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Age Concern calls for action from Pre-Budget Report
The Chancellor is being urged by the leading charity for older
people to give much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable this
winter, and to make plans to help current pensioners over the next five
years.
Age Concern is calling for an extra £100 winter fuel payment for
older people to help cope with recent fuel price increases, ahead of
the Pre-Budget Report due at the beginning of December.
Since 2003 domestic gas prices have risen by 87% and domestic
electricity prices by 56%. The £200 Winter Fuel Payment covered just
over one third of (35 per cent) of the average annual energy bill in
2003. It now covers just one fifth (20 per cent).
This leaves many older people in danger over the winter months. Last
winter, almost 25,000 older people over 65 in Britain died from cold
related illness last winter.
Age Concern is also calling for year-round urgent assistance to help current pensioners.
The Government is planning to reinstate the earnings link for the
Basic State Pension in 2012 - this leaves today's pensioner in a
perilous financial position. 1.8 million pensioners are living in
poverty and thousands more are struggling to make ends meet. Unless the
Government intervenes quickly, the real value of the basic state
pension will fall to a dismal £75 (in 2006 earnings terms) by 2012.
Other issues we urge the Chancellor to resolve in the Pre-Budget Report include:
- Post offices – renew the subsidy at the current rate and create a strategy for rural communities to tackle social exclusion
- Major investment in adult and older people’s skills
- At least double the personal expenses allowances for those whose care is funded by Local Authorities
- Address the crisis in long-term care funding
Gordon Lishman, Director General of Age Concern, said:
"Rising energy bills, rising council taxes and only inflationary
rises in the basic state pension are leaving many older people in a
desperate financial situation. We are looking for the Pre-Budget Report
to address these urgent issues: we need an extra £100 in winter
payments to help pay for increased heating bills, we need support for
older people to help pay council tax and we need the Basic State
Pension to be linked to earnings long before 2012.
"In addition, by investing in adult skills, by continuing the post
office subsidies and by looking at the situation in funding for
long-term care both in the short and the long-term, the Chancellor and
the Government will make a real difference to minimising the
underemployment, isolation and unfairness that many older people face."
Notes for editors
The Pre-Budget Report will be announced by the Chancellor on 6 December 2006, ahead of the budget in March 2007.
www.ageconcern.org.uk
29th November 2006
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