No 33 AUTUMN EDITION 2005
CHAIRMAN'S COLUMN by Harold Williams
My thanks to all of you who attended our very successful rally at Southend-on-Sea. It does us good to recharge our batteries and realise we are not alone in our fight for justice for pensioners.
The next rally of importance is the National Lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 12 October. Admittance to Westminster Hall will be by the St Stephens Entrance from 11.30 a.m.
I realise that the recent terrorist's activities in London may affect the attendance. That must be a personal decision but I hope that a good number of you will join the Secretary and me on the 12th October.
The General Election has now passed into history but we have had time to reflect on its meaning, according to recent survey, 45 percent of Members of Parliament are supporting our claim to pay all pensioners £109.00 per week. What effect will their views have on this Government?
The National Insurance Fund will have another £60 billion by the year 2010, what is the Chancellor going to do with this fortune.
We now have a Pensioners Charter, many M.P's pay lip service to our aims but action speaks louder than words. The Lobby of Parliament in October will be emphasising our claims but I wonder how much attention we will receive from the media.
The National Institute for Health and clinical Excellence (N.I.C.E.) is recommending that age should be used to determine whether or not a patient receives the treatment they need. This shocking recommendation is contained in a consultation paper entitled Social Value Judgements. The consultation period closed on the 30th June 2005. I mentioned this problem in the last issue and feel it stresses the need for our vigilance. Don't forget to advise the PAA Secretary if you have any evidence.
We are now waiting for Councils throughout the U.K. to inform us how they intend to implement theFREE TRAVEL policy from April 2006. The problem seems to be that the authority of Councils terminates at their boundaries. We hear stories of Councils getting together on this problem, but we need to exert pressure on those who make the decisions. Don't forget the aim of the NPC is Free Travel for all Pensioners.
The European Countries are having trouble with their pension payments. There is not enough money entering the schemes to guarantee the Pension Payments. There is still a big discrepancy in the U.K. Payments. France, Germany and Italy pay more than 70 percent of average earnings while in the U.K., it is 14 percent of average earnings and 20 percent of pensioners are below the Governments own poverty standard. Though European standards are falling, we still have a very wide gap to bridge.
The arguments concerning the cost of long term care continue both in the media and various committee meetings. The average cost of care is currently £380.00 a week. The state covers all costs if your assets are below £12,250, above this figure there are shared costs up to £20,000 and above this figure no assistance.
Many pensioners have to sell their homes to meet the costs. What we used to call Socialism provided the answer, but we are no longer governed by socialist thinking. Keep up the fight!
GOVERNMENT BEHIND TARGET WITH PENSION CREDIT TAKE-UP
Latest figures on Pension Credit take-up reveal the Government is behind target in getting 3 million eligible households claiming Pension Credit by April 2006. There has been a slow-down in the average monthly signing-up of new claimants from 76,000 last year to 11,000 a month this year. At that rate, it would take until 2007 for the Government to meet its target of reaching 3 million households.
The Government's target of reaching 3 million households was not an ambitious one in as much as it represents only 75 per cent of those entitled to Pension Credit. Furthermore, with only 3.29 million older people currently claiming Pension Credit (71 per cent), it is apparent that over 1 million older people who are entitled to it are still not receiving it.
Mervyn Kohler
CHARITY ATTACKS PROPOSAL TO ALLOW AGE DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH SERVICE
Help the Aged has expressed concern and anger over the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) proposal that 'age discrimination is appropriate' when deciding what treatments and care should be made available to patients.
Our comments came during the consultation by NICE, the independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill-health, which closed at the end of June.
The institute's proposal that where age is an indicator of benefit or risk, age discrimination is appropriate, has been widely criticised as signalling a dangerous step back in the limited progress that we have seen in recent years to eradicate age discrimination in health care services. Help the Aged also believes it runs counter to the Government's aim of eradicating age discrimination from the NHS.
PAA ESSEX ANNUAL MARCH AND RALLY 2005,/p>
The annual rally of the Essex Region took place on the 22nd July. The march started from Victoria Plaza via the High Street and the Seafront, to the Centre Place Community Centre. Two of our speakers and the former Member of Parliament for Braintree took part in the March.
The Speakers at the rally were Dot Gibson, Vice-President NPC, Martin Gould, Chairman of SERTUC and Jonathan Ellis, Policy Manager-Help the Aged.
Dot Gibson
The NPC is a campaigning organisation started about 25 years ago by Jack Jones when he retired as General Secretary of the TGWU. to campaign and safe guard the rights of pensioners after retiring from full time employment.
In 3yrs time, it will be 100yrs when the state pension was introduced. It is 60 yrs since the end of World War 2, and where are we now. The welfare state was introduced in 1946 and since then, by various Governments it has been eroded. In the present day Social Services in London and elsewhere especially the Homecare services are carried out by private companies who do not provide proper staff training, and pay the lowest wage they can. The selling of Council Care Homes has taken place throughout the country.
The Government has stated that 25 percent of elderly people are living below the poverty line and in London this figure increases to 35 percent. On the question of care for the elderly we have the post code lottery, different Councils interpret the rules differently and how can you define the difference between Medical /Social care. At the Blackpool Parliament this year the Pensioners Charter was adopted. A lobby of Parliament has been arranged for October 12 so that all pensioners can lobby their Member of Parliament. Local events will also be taking place.
Martin Gould
The TUC position on pensions is that the state pension is the bedrock for all pensioners to receive. Company pension schemes (Final Salary) are deferred wages. The harm done to pensions was with the previous Tory Government in allowing the employer to have a "holiday" from paying any contributions to the Company scheme. They are now running into problems, these Companies are closing the schemes to new employees and even closing down schemes by introducing money purchase which are inferior to final Salary Schemes due to the fortunes of the stock market and to boost company profits.
The directors are enjoying super pension schemes while the lower paid and retired persons only get the crumbs.
The new Labour Government has not kept it pledges to restore the link. What the TUC is campaigning for is properly funded schemes for men and women. At the last TUC Conference a motion was passed, supporting properly funded occupational and state pension schemes.
SERTUC will be having discussions with the NPC on what support that can be given on October 12, the Lobby of Parliament and day of action.
Jonathan Ellis
After watching the recent programme on TV, the Panorama documentary about abuse of elderly persons in Hospital, my speech will be about Health and Social Care.
The main problem that elderly persons are facing when they go into hospital is dignity and discrimination. The quality of care is not up to standard, neglect, rudeness; not making sure that food is being taken etc. Age discrimination, MRSA, Mix-sex Wards (these are still around) are examples of elder abuse.
Half a million elder persons are experiencing abuse every day by some means. It is a national disgrace and is not acceptable in this modern age. End of life discrimination is failing in hospitals for certain cases and proper care should be in a hospice.
A recent survey that 1 in 8 are suffering depression, in hospitals this figure is 40 percent. 60 percent of elderly need foot care. Due to financial constraints only 10 percent are on the NHS. Preventative care is essential in the long run.
The Government publishes documents and reports about dignity, and new ideas about social care services, and promises to introduce them, but somewhere along the line these disappear and no action is forthcoming. Another act of discrimination of the elderly is the recent decision about the drugs that are available for Alzheimer's sufferers.
The Government has recently confirmed that the case for free personnel care has been rejected.
Finally what we need is Universal care for all, and decent care homes.