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The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MPLiberal Democrat MP for Gordon |
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Bruce challenges Government on pensioner poverty disgrace
December 8, 2009 12:00 AM
Malcolm Bruce, the North East MP has challenged the Government on not doing enough to help tackle pensioner poverty.
Speaking in the House of Commons he chided the Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society (at the Department of Work and Pensions) over the complicated means-tested pension credit system which the MP claims is confusing and which has resulted in a poor uptake amongst pensioners.
The Gordon MP said: "Does the Minister acknowledge that a reason for [the 2 million pensioners in relative poverty] is the complexity and delay involved in applying for benefits, particularly pension credit, for which the form is 18-pages long and the guidance is 19 pages? Does she not accept that, for many people, that is simply a deterrent, which means that they do not claim benefits? Is that not the Government's intention? If it is not, surely they could find a better way of ensuring that people who are entitled to benefits get them."
The minister refuted the claim, responding that the Government is working to improve the take-up of pension credit, and it was her belief that they are succeeding.
Afterwards Mr Bruce said:
"The Minister may point to improvements but the fact of the matter is that I have had constituents come to me with their experiences which do not reflect the Minister's optimism.
"Millions of pensioners are missing out on the money they need to get by because the benefits system is so complicated. If we had a higher state pension older people wouldn't even need these benefits.
"The Government admitted that 700,000 pensioners would be lifted out of poverty if everyone claimed all the benefits to which they were entitled. Instead it has saved over £35billion since 1997 thanks to benefits that have not reached the poorest pensioners in the UK.
"Figures show that last year an estimated 1.7million pensioners missed out on an average of over £1700 each of pension credit.
"Pensioners can apply for Pension Credit over the phone but the average length of a call is 14 minutes and applicants have to answer questions about their income and savings."
ENDS
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