Time to Give Pensioners a Fair Deal as Lib Dems Unveil Citizens Pension

10.31.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 8th Sep 2004

Lib Dem Boost to Pensioners

Eastleigh's pensioners would be big beneficiaries of new plans to raise the state pension by £25 a week unveiled by the Liberal Democrats this week.

Under the plans, single pensioners over the age of 75 would gain £25 a week while couples would benefit by £33.70.

Chris Huhne MEP, the prospective parliamentary candidate for Eastleigh, is a member of the Lib Dems' Treasury team that has been involved in preparing and costing the plans.

Mr Huhne welcomed the proposals which he said would particularly benefit Eastleigh because there were many low income pensioners who chose not to apply for income support on top of their basic state pension.

'We want to add £25 a week to the pension for over 75s so that nobody will need to go through all the hoops of claiming pensioner credit as they do at present' said Mr Huhne. 'This will also deliver money to the third of poorer pensioners who now choose not to claim pensioner credit'.

Mr Huhne said that the take-up of pensioner credit had been a flop, with nearly 2000 of the eligible pensioners in Eastleigh failing to claim either because they did not know about the scheme, or because they find means-testing to be demeaning. The Lib Dem scheme would also remove thousands of Eastleigh pensioners from the need to fill in means-testing forms for pensioner credit.

'This scheme also rights an historic injustice against women. The current system is stacked against women who stay at home to care for their

children and/or work part time and who have patchy NI contributions. Based on residency, the Citizen's Pension particularly benefits women.

'The commitment to a rise in the state pension is one of several key measures which will help Eastleigh's senior citizens' said Mr Huhne. 'We will also ensure that there is free long-term care for the elderly, as we have already done in partnership government in Scotland. And we will abolish the council tax that weighs particularly on older people, replacing it by a fair local income tax'.

The Lib Dem plan would also:

SIMPLIFY SAVING by making occupational pension schemes "opt out" rather than "opt in" schemes so that employees have to make a

conscious decision not to save in the scheme

REDUCE THE SAVINGS GAP by slashing means-testing and

Encouraging savings because every penny saved will be a penny by which you are better off when you retire

OFFER CHOICE by removing the requirement to buy an annuity

at 75, so that people can decide for themselves how to use their savings;=

ENSURING TRUST IN PENSIONS by offering new, low-cost pensions run by National Savings

GIVE SIMPLE GUIDANCE by establishing a kitemark system for

occupational pensions so that all employees and job applicants can see the rating that a company's scheme has been given.

Mr Huhne said that the cost of the commitments to pensioners would be met by savings in central government. He cited the abolition of the Department of Trade and Industry and a major relocation scheme to move departments to cheaper offices outside London. 'As before, the Treasury team will produce a fully costed and careful programme for our manifesto pledges at the coming general election. The Lib Dems pride ourselves on only promising what we can clearly afford' said Mr Huhne.