Secretary's Report December 2002 -

Secretary of State for Scotland Meets T&G RMA to discuss Pensions.

The Rt Hon Helen Liddell MP The Secretary of State for Scotland agreed to a meeting with Representatives of the Scottish Branch of the T&G Retired Members Association seeking support for pensions justice. The meeting was held at the Scotland Office in Edinburgh on Monday
16th December.

T&G RMA representatives attending: Chairman Robert Armour, William Glancy,
Tom McCulloch, Harry MacDonald, Treasurer Frank McKenzie, Jan Wojcik, and
Secretary George Henderson.

The Representatives welcomed the willingness of Helen Liddell to meet them and although appreciative of the improvements for pensioners since the Government came to office in 1997 spoke earnestly about the continuing pensioners campaign.

Emphasis was placed on the disappointment of pensioners at the failure to restore the link with earnings; attention was drawn to the anomaly between basic pensioners and those on the Minimum Earnings Guarantee. People of pensioner age on the MIG receive £98 plus per week linked with the average earnings index, compared with the basic pension of £75.50 per week linked with the prices index.

The pension campaigners called on the Secretary of State to support a basic state pension of £105.70 a week for a single pensioner and £169 for a couple; restoration of the link between the state pension and average earnings; an end to means-testing and a maintenance of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), which was introduced by the late Barbara Castle and provides additional financial support in retirement.

Representatives made reference to MPs and MSP's having recently given themselves a huge increase in their own pensions but they refuse to do the same for Britain's elderly. The state pension is now so low that millions of people are forced to fill in forms in order to get a little extra money - yet nearly three million pensioners still live below the official poverty line, and 700,000 older people eligible to claim do not do so. Concerns were expressed regarding the very favourable retirement pensions and redundancy pay benefit for MSP's & MP's even when being demoted or sacked. This apparent discrimination and double standards mainly when workers pensions were under attack made countless pensioners irate and disillusioned with Government. This was a universal view expressed by the National Pensioners Convention Annual Parliament and by Sister Pensioner Organizations at their conferences. This would continue to be a serious Election issue.

The Secretary of State was told that many of today's pensioners are now treated like second-class citizens and any MP or Minister trying to live on the basic state pension would no doubt find it impossible - yet many of our elderly people have to do that every week of the year.
For these reasons we are calling on our Secretary of State for Scotland to support the pensioners call for a decent state pension for all older people without the demeaning and dreaded means test.
 

Photograph Left to Right - G Henderson, Helen Liddell MP Secretary Of State, Scotland, H MacDonald, R Armour, T McCulloch, W Glancy, F McKenzie, & J Wojcik

The Secretary of State was reminded of the promises made in a pamphlet prior to the 1997 election. That pamphlet was entitled The Tories have betrayed pensioners, and was written by Tony Blair, John Prescott, Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman. A further copy was presented to Helen Liddell.

The Secretary of State in response, affirmed Government's number one priority has been to help those in greatest need and referred to the considerable benefits introduced for pensioners since 1997 - Eight and a half billion pounds - this covered fuel and winter fuel payments now worth £200; free T V Licences for the over 75s; the Minimum Incomes Guarantee, around 181,000 people aged 60 or over in Scotland benefit from MIG; a pension rise next April from £75.50 to £77.45 and in April 2004 by at least 2½ per cent to £79.40 and the Government will be introducing the Pension Credit next year; the Pension Credit will look at income rather than savings. The Secretary of State also made reference to the Demographic Time bomb and Europe.

The RMA Secretary presented the "Don't Panic over Demographic Time bomb" rebuttal document from Seniors Network together with "Pensions Reform -Watchdogs" documentary evidence supporting the pensioners' case, and documents covering MP's and MSP's Salaries including pensions. The fact that the UK was the fourth strongest economy in the world and at the bottom of the league table in Europe for the lowest pensions to UK Senior Citizens was also registered with the Secretary of State.

Several Representatives complained that the complexity of these various Government schemes, meant that millions of pensioners were losing out, with the cost of running such schemes, at least 4 times as expensive to administer as a universal benefit, and considerably more bureaucratic to organise. The Secretary of State instructed a member of her Senior Staff to prepare and forward a simple explanatory paper.

T&G RMA documentation regarding Concessionary Travel anomalies in Scotland was also presented for information.

The Pensioner Representatives asked The Secretary of State to encourage Labour Cabinet colleagues to support their campaign, for an increased state pension, an end to means testing, restoration of the link between pensions and earnings. The Secretary of State promised to convey our deliberations to her Cabinet Colleagues.

Although there had been a "frank exchange of views" the one-hour meeting had been constructive, and as it was December, the meeting naturally closed with an all round exchange of "Compliments of the Season".