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Age Concern calls for action from Pre-Budget Report

The Chancellor is being urged by the leading charity for older people to give much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable this winter‚ and to make plans to help current pensioners over the next five years.

Age Concern is calling for an extra £100 winter fuel payment for older people to help cope with recent fuel price increases‚ ahead of the Pre-Budget Report due at the beginning of December.

Since 2003 domestic gas prices have risen by 87% and domestic electricity prices by 56%. The £200 Winter Fuel Payment covered just over one third of (35 per cent) of the average annual energy bill in 2003. It now covers just one fifth (20 per cent).

This leaves many older people in danger over the winter months. Last winter‚ almost 25‚000 older people over 65 in Britain died from cold related illness last winter.

Age Concern is also calling for year-round urgent assistance to help current pensioners.

The Government is planning to reinstate the earnings link for the Basic State Pension in 2012 - this leaves today's pensioner in a perilous financial position. 1.8 million pensioners are living in poverty and thousands more are struggling to make ends meet. Unless the Government intervenes quickly‚ the real value of the basic state pension will fall to a dismal £75 (in 2006 earnings terms) by 2012.

Other issues we urge the Chancellor to resolve in the Pre-Budget Report include:

• Post offices – renew the subsidy at the current rate and create a strategy for rural communities to tackle social exclusion
• Major investment in adult and older people’s skills
• At least double the personal expenses allowances for those whose care is funded by Local Authorities
• Address the crisis in long-term care funding

Gordon Lishman‚ Director General of Age Concern‚ said:

"Rising energy bills‚ rising council taxes and only inflationary rises in the basic state pension are leaving many older people in a desperate financial situation. We are looking for the Pre-Budget Report to address these urgent issues: we need an extra £100 in winter payments to help pay for increased heating bills‚ we need support for older people to help pay council tax and we need the Basic State Pension to be linked to earnings long before 2012.

"In addition‚ by investing in adult skills‚ by continuing the post office subsidies and by looking at the situation in funding for long-term care both in the short and the long-term‚ the Chancellor and the Government will make a real difference to minimising the underemployment‚ isolation and unfairness that many older people face."

Notes for editors

The Pre-Budget Report will be announced by the Chancellor on 6 December 2006‚ ahead of the budget in March 2007.

For more information‚ please contact Jonty Alone (020 8765 7516) or Samuel Heath (020 8765 7512)

For general enquiries please contact us.

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