ePolitix.com Stakeholders respond to Gordon Brown's Budget announcements on pensions.

Stakeholder Response: Help the Aged

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Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs, said: "There were few green shoots for pensioners in the chancellor's equinox Budget. 

"Instead we have heard more self-congratulation about the economy and growth, but little about high fuel costs, soaring council tax bills and dwindling local services which older people rely on. 

"The basic state pension continues to be overwhelmed by the rise in essential costs and pensioner poverty persists after a decade of Gordon Brown's tenure in Number 11 Downing Street. 

"The UK's economic budget may well be sustainable, but the individual budgets of the country's older people are not.
 
"On the positive side, we welcome the extension of the Financial Assistance Scheme to assist those workers who lose their retirement packages as a result of business insolvency. 

"It is good that the government has owned up to responsibility for those pensioners left without provision through no fault of their own.

"We also welcome the increase in tax-free allowance for pensioners which will reduce hardship for those older people on small fixed incomes and take 600,000 older people out of tax altogether.
 
"As the population ages, the government must make a far better job of prioritising services for older people. 

"Central to this should be a commitment to a pension that allows retirement with dignity, instead of decline.

"The speech contained nothing new on tackling fuel poverty nor any increase in Winter Fuel Payments to offset rises in energy costs - this inaction will consign many older people to yet more scrimping and saving. 

"Help the Aged shares the anger which will be felt by many pensioners at the chancellor's failure to reinstate the £200 rebate to help with Council Tax bills. 

"It is now clear to all that the introduction of this discount two years ago was a pre-election bribe.
 
"This Budget was a missed opportunity to address the wider needs of our pensioner population and is a profound indictment on another year of warm words instead of action."

Stakeholder Response: Age Concern

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Gordon Lishman, Age Concern’s director general, said: "This is a stop-gap budget for pensioners.

"The chancellor has bowed out of his final Budget by ignoring the needs of some of the poorest older people, largely the 2.1 million who aren’t claiming Pension Credit.

"Many pensioners will feel very frustrated by today’s speech, particularly with yet more council tax and water bill rises around the corner."

Pensions

"It’s good that the Pension Credit will continue to rise in line with earnings but this is nothing new and won’t help the 2.1 million pensioners who are missing out on the benefit.

"It is extremely disappointing that the government has failed to announce a date for re-linking the state pension to average earnings.

"Without quick intervention, the real value of the basic state pension will fall to a pitiful £75 by 2012 and today’s pensioners will fail to benefit from any of the good measures proposed in the Pensions Bill.

"Older women and carers, who have already retired with incomplete NI records, will also miss out unless pensions reform is introduced retrospectively."

Income tax

"It’s really positive that the chancellor plans to lift 600,000 pensioners out of income tax.

"This will make the system more simple and fairer for those with a modest level of income or a small amount of savings, who are currently caught in the income tax trap."

The Financial Assistance Scheme

"Brown’s plan to extend the FAS to £8bn is really welcome and should at least go some way to help the 125,000 workers who so unfairly lost their pensions."

Fuel bills

"The government cannot assume that because energy companies have recently lowered their prices, pensioners can now afford to pay their bills.

"Steep and steady hikes in gas and electricity prices have led to inflation-busting bills that have pushed thousands more older people into fuel poverty.

"The annual Winter Fuel Allowance is a very popular payment and the chancellor’s refusal to increase it will disappoint many pensioners."

Council tax

"Many pensioners will be bitterly disappointed that the chancellor failed to offer any help with their spiralling council tax bills.

"Since Labour came to power, council tax bills have almost doubled whilst the basic state pension has risen by scarcely a third.

"The government must act on Lyons’ recommendations that council tax benefit should be received automatically, without having to claim, and the savings limit should be increased to £50,000.

"In the short term, the government should make it much easier for people to get the help they are entitled to by introducing a single telephone claim line for all means-tested benefits."

Long-term care

"Ignoring the crisis in long-term care funding will not make it disappear.

"The fact is there is simply too little money in the system to improve the quality of care and the problem is set to get worse as the population ages.

"The chancellor has missed an opportunity to kick-start an open and honest public debate - as we had with pensions – to urgently deliver a long-term care settlement that is simple, fair and sustainable."