Age Concern's response to Hutton's comments re. state pension age

Thursday 23 November 2006

Age Concern’s response to Work & Pensions Secretary John Hutton’s comments about the state pension age increasing to avoid an increase in income tax

Age Concern’s Director General, Gordon Lishman, said:

"If the State Pension Age is going to rise in order to fund a better state pension, there must be a transformation of the workplace to enable older people to work for longer if they want or need to. Targeted programmes must also be in place to support those who are looking for work, need to build new skills, or are unable to work. It is essential that this reform does not exacerbate the inequalities between the rich and the poor.

“But in looking to the future, the Government must not ignore the needs of today’s pensioners. Restoring the link between the Basic State Pension and average earnings is good news. But it must happen before the proposed date of 2012 so that current pensioners and those about to retire do not get poorer the longer they live.”