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Welcome
to the
Greater London
Pensioners Association
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A brief history of the
Pensioners
Movement
by GLPA
Pensioner poverty was a major campaigning issue throughout the 20th Century. It was through the efforts of Charles Booth and the Christian-Socialist, Revd. F. H. Stead, that the National Pensions Committee (a coalition of trade unions, leading Liberal and Tory politicians, the churches and early labour organisations) was formed. It was through their campaigning that the 1908 Old Age Pensions Act was established. The full pension was then 5 shillings weekly but two persons living together in the same house each received 3 shillings and 9 pence. It was means-tested.
National Conference of Old Age Pensions
Then, towards the end of the First World War, poverty in old age became the focus of campaigning again. It was led by the National Conference of Old Age Pensions (an alliance of Friendly Societies, Co-operative Societies, the Free Church Council and trade unions). They argued against means-testing.
National Spinsters' Pensions Association
By the mid-30s older women were also campaigning strongly. The National Spinsters' Pensions Association, with a membership of around 150,000, argued for unmarried women to be treated, as regards their pension, as "war widows".
National Federation of Old Age Pensions Association
At the beginning of the Second World War, the first Petition was presented by the National Federation of Old Age Pensions Association. It asked for a doubling of the basic pension to £1.00 and 5 million signatures were collected in six weeks of local activity. It later changed its name and became the National Federation of Retirement Pensions Association.
National Federation of Retirement Pensions Association
The end of the Second World War saw the rise of the National Federation of Retirement Pensions Association and its magazine Pensioners Voice. While it aimed to improve the living standards of older people, its local branches were mainly social.
Joint Committee of London Old Age Pensioners
The return of Labour Governments in the 1960s and
1970s renewed the possibility of influencing pensions policies and that
led to the formation of the Joint Committee. Mollie
Prendergast, a Founder Member, now 93 years old remembers:
"Some Engineering Union members were coming out of their Branch Meeting one night when they saw an old lady, very cold and miserable. Len Lonsinger and Peter James were two of them. They were concerned and stopped to speak to her. She told them that had she done something wrong she might be in Holloway Prison, where at least she would be warm and get some food. There and then, Peter and Len decided that something should be done for pensioners. They appealed to other trades unionists and socially minded people to join a pensioners' organisation. British Pensioners and Trade Union Action Association
It took until 1972 (and a split in the Federation) before the British Pensioners and Trade Union Action Association BP&TUAA was formally established. Whilst
the British Pensioners & Trades Union Action Association was consolidating its
position the Greater London Pensioners Association (set up in 1973) affiliated to it and became its London Region.
There was a steady flow of around 70 affiliations to the GLPA by Trades Unions and Retired Members Associations and about 90 pensioner organisations, covering almost every Borough, also affiliated. The campaigning of the Action Groups was greatly heightened. National Pensioners Convention
In the run up to the founding in 1979 of the National Pensioners Convention (NCP), the
Joint Committee of Senior Citizens was set up by Jack Jones. The support of the TUC was gained and a mass demonstration in Trafalgar Square was held. The NPC brought together the Federation, BPTUAA, Age Concern, Help the Aged, the TGWU Retired Members Association and the Post Office and Telecom Pensioners in a move towards uniting all the different organisations claiming to speak for the pensioners and it used its declaration of intent as a unifying statement.
The declaration called for "pensions to be not less than one-third of average earnings for a single pensioner and half for a married
couple". The GLPA affiliated to the NPC and many of its members attend the Pensioners' Parliament that the NPC has organised each year for the last 5 years.
In 1997 Jack Jones led a team of 12 pensioners from many parts of Britain in putting a well argued case to the
Government's Pensions Review. The key demand in the NPC submission to the review was to
restore the link between pensions and wages. When dealing with the issue of Second Pensions, he said he was speaking in the interest of all pensioners, today's and tommorrow's, following the long-standing policy of the NPC:
"Solidarity between the Generations". Greater London Forum for the Elderly
Set up in 1988, the Greater London Forum for the Elderly
(GLF) is an 'umbrella' organisation for Forums which have been set up in all the London Boroughs. London-wide organisations such as Age Concern and the
Association of Greater London Older Women are also members. It provides a support and information service for the 33 Forums and makes representations on their behalf to other relevant bodies on London-wide issues
such as health and education.
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