The Green Party today launched its Older People’s Pledge for the 2010 general election (1) – with, at its heart, the promise of support for the National Pensioners’ Convention’s demand for a £170-a-week basic state pension.

Gateshead Greens unveiled this pledge today to show the Green commitment to all aspects of life – especially those for whom life is tough due to low incomes in retirement.

Andy Redfern, Green Candidate for the newly-formed Gateshead constituency said: “After a lifetime of hard work and contributing to society, pensioners deserve better than having to scrape by on an inadequate state pension. It’s only fair that the basic state pension should be enough to live on – that is why Greens would make sure that all pensioners receive a non-means-tested £170 per week, as well as free social care for all who need it, as is currently offered in Scotland.”

The figure of £170 per week is calculated as the minimum required to keep the basic state pension above the official poverty line, according to the National Pensioners’ Convention, in its Pensioners’ Manifesto, which calls for a range of measures to improve conditions for older people (2).

A spokesman for the NPC said today:

“The NPC welcomes the Green Party’s commitment to improving the basic state pension for Britain’s 11 million older voters and hopes that other parties will see the economic and moral sense in tackling pensioner poverty. This is something no political party should ignore.”

The Greens have spelled out how the £170 basic state pension would be funded (3).

End the default retirement age, say Greens

In addition to raising pensioners above the poverty line, the Green Party’s Older People’s Pledge promises to end the default retirement age, so that people would have the freedom to go on working and contributing to society if they wished to, free from discrimination on the basis of age.

Michelle Mitchell, Age Concern and Help the Aged’s Charity Director, said:

“We welcome the Green Party’s focus on older people and desire to address the challenges of ageing as we head towards the general election. Abolishing the default retirement age and increasing the basic state pension are absolutely key to improving the retirement prospects for millions of older people.”

The Green Party has also pointed out that under its policy of free insulation for every home in Britain, pensioners would benefit from warmer homes and would be less reliant on winter fuel payments.

Notes

1. The Green Party’s Older People’s Pledge is below in full.

2. The NPC’s Pensioners’ Manifesto can be downloaded here: www.npcuk.org/publications.htm.

3. There are roughly 12 million pensioners living in the UK and a further 1 million living abroad. Paying a single rate of £170 per week, and a couples rate of £300 per week, will cost £110bn per year. The current basic state pension, plus certain other specific pensioner benefits like Pensions Credits paid to those of pension age (which would become redundant if the basic pension rate was raised to the level we propose) costs £70bn. For the remaining £40 billion, the Green Party would abolish tax relief on pension contributions (£20 billion), and the national insurance rebate on employer and employee contributions to private pension schemes (£19 billion). The final £1 billion would come from increased income tax receipts from pensioners.

4. In 2009-10, the full basic State Pension is £95.25 a week. For a married couple who both qualify, it is £190.50 a week. From April 6 2010, these figures will rise by 2.5%.