Pensioners’ charter highlights poverty

June 15, 2005 in Adults

A lobby group has launched a “pensioners’ charter” demanding
free long-term care for older people and a higher state
pension.

The National Pensioners’ Convention issued the manifesto last week
as it published figures showing the number of older people in
relative poverty had not changed since Labour came to power in
1997.

The statistics, which draw on the government’s own figures, also
show 22,000 older people died from the cold last year, the same
number as eight years ago.

The charter’s call for free long-term care and a higher state
pension, linked to earnings, is part of a raft of measures proposed
by the group to tackle pensioner poverty.

A spokesperson for the convention said pensioner poverty remained
high because means-tested benefits were complex to claim and
carried stigma. He added: “The poorest people are those who are
eligible [for benefits] but do not claim. We will only break that
by making universal payments.”