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07/09/2004
Lib Dems pledge extra £25 for single pensioners
The Lib Dems have today published their vision for pensions – the 'Citizens Pension' which will see single pensioners over 75 receive an extra £25 a week.
Couples over 75 could expect to get an extra £33.70 a week under a Lib Dem administration – and all paid for through the abolition of the DTI.
The cost of the policy – which would provide £105.45 a week for single pensioners and £160.95 for couples – will be around £2.7 billion and would be met through the abolition of the DTI and slimming down the Treasury and DCMS departments.
The Lib Dems said that in the first term of its administration, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will be targeted at the over 75s who tended to be the poorest, the majority of whom are women. The policy will later be extended to all pensioners.
Based on residency rather than National Insurance contributions, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will particularly benefit women, who will no longer be penalised for caring for their children at home or be reliant on their husband’s pension. The plans will also lift a million people out of means testing overnight, the party claimed.
Under the plans, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will rise in line with average earnings so that "all pensioners could share in the growing wealth of the nation".
The policy would also reform occupational and private pensions. Proposed measures include making occupational schemes “opt out” schemes rather than “opt in” schemes so that employees have to make a conscious decision not to save in the scheme.
Slashing means-testing and removing the requirement to buy an annuity at 75 also form part of the plans which are designed to open up choice for the national's pensioners.
Launching the policy, Lib Dems leader Charles Kennedy said: “This is about fairness for all pensioners. Overnight we will lift one million pensioners out of means testing and we will ensure an extra £25 a week on the basic state pension for single pensioners. Many pensioners are missing out on a decent pension because of the complexity of the government's Pension Credit. Our Citizen's Pension will give people a decent pension as a right without needless form filling and bureaucracy.
“There is a lack of confidence in the pensions system. Today's measures will restore faith in pensions as a way of saving for retirement.”
(gmcg/mb)
Couples over 75 could expect to get an extra £33.70 a week under a Lib Dem administration – and all paid for through the abolition of the DTI.
The cost of the policy – which would provide £105.45 a week for single pensioners and £160.95 for couples – will be around £2.7 billion and would be met through the abolition of the DTI and slimming down the Treasury and DCMS departments.
The Lib Dems said that in the first term of its administration, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will be targeted at the over 75s who tended to be the poorest, the majority of whom are women. The policy will later be extended to all pensioners.
Based on residency rather than National Insurance contributions, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will particularly benefit women, who will no longer be penalised for caring for their children at home or be reliant on their husband’s pension. The plans will also lift a million people out of means testing overnight, the party claimed.
Under the plans, the 'Citizen’s Pension' will rise in line with average earnings so that "all pensioners could share in the growing wealth of the nation".
The policy would also reform occupational and private pensions. Proposed measures include making occupational schemes “opt out” schemes rather than “opt in” schemes so that employees have to make a conscious decision not to save in the scheme.
Slashing means-testing and removing the requirement to buy an annuity at 75 also form part of the plans which are designed to open up choice for the national's pensioners.
Launching the policy, Lib Dems leader Charles Kennedy said: “This is about fairness for all pensioners. Overnight we will lift one million pensioners out of means testing and we will ensure an extra £25 a week on the basic state pension for single pensioners. Many pensioners are missing out on a decent pension because of the complexity of the government's Pension Credit. Our Citizen's Pension will give people a decent pension as a right without needless form filling and bureaucracy.
“There is a lack of confidence in the pensions system. Today's measures will restore faith in pensions as a way of saving for retirement.”
(gmcg/mb)
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