UK-wide strategy needed to tackle pensioner poverty, says committee

South Wales Guardian

6 days ago

The Government should also decide on – and ensure – a minimum level of retirement income, the Work and Pensions Committee urged.
Once set, a plan should be created for everyone to reach that level, it added.
Given that the state pension is the core of the Government's offer to pensioners, a guiding principle should be that it provides the amount needed for a 'minimum, dignified, socially acceptable standard of living', the committee said.
It urged the Government to commit to a UK-wide, cross-government strategy for an ageing society, that it said would help target support to tackle pensioner poverty.
If it does not effectively tackle poverty as one of the causes of ill-health, 'the Government will not be able to achieve its goal of building a health and social care service that is sustainable', the Pensioner Poverty report warned.
The report also highlighted longer-term trends that 'threaten to undermine pension adequacy', such as people renting into later life.
The committee also called for a pension credit take-up strategy for England by the end of 2025.
Despite being worth up to £4,000 a year, the take-up of pension credit has hovered between 61% and 66% for a decade, with an estimated 700,000 households being eligible but not claiming, the committee said.
A taper to pension credit should also be considered to 'mitigate the cliff-edge effect' for those who currently miss out, the report said.
Under current rules, some pensioners just above income thresholds could end up worse off than those with slightly lower incomes, it added.
Pension credit can 'passport' recipients to other benefits such as housing benefit, council tax support, the warm homes discount, a free TV licence, help with dental treatment and, in winter 2024/25, the winter fuel payment.
The committee argued that reliance on top-ups such as pension credit and housing benefit is not sufficient to ensure people do not fall below the poverty line.
The report said: 'After a decline in pensioner poverty in the 2000s, the number of pensioners in relative low income started to rise again from 2010. This has been exacerbated by increases in the cost of living since 2021.'
It continued: 'The number of people of pension age living in relative poverty (below 60% of median income) is 1.9 million or 16% of pensioners.
'Measures which factor in the cost of living show that between 2008/09 and 2022/23, the number of pensioners in households below the Minimum Income Standard (MIS)—the amount needed for a minimum dignified socially acceptable standard of living—rose from 1.5 to 2.8 million.
'The proportion of pensioners below 75% of MIS (where the risk of material deprivation increases substantially) rose from 5.9% in 2021/22 to 9.5% in 2022/23.
'In practice, this means cutting back on essentials, like food, energy use and seeing friends, in an attempt to manage costs. Health experts explained the implications for health. Financial hardship can accelerate the ageing process, making it more likely that an older person will enter hospital or need care.'
The committee said that in some places, organisations are working together towards shared objectives.
The report continued: 'However, not all areas do this. We heard that it would help to have a national cross-government strategy for our ageing society and older people.
'This could provide a framework to hold the different partners to account for their role in delivering the agreed outcomes. It could also ensure that central government departments developed policy with shared objectives in mind.'
Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams said: 'To boost incomes, the Government needs to come up with a strategy to increase pension credit take-up. It's a scandal that so many have missed out for so many years, often through an aversion to claiming benefits altogether, or lack of support.
'The fairness of the pensions credit eligibility criteria where if you are a penny above the threshold, you miss out on thousands of pounds, also needs to be looked at.
'Ultimately, the Government should decide what it thinks is enough for a dignified retirement, and then work to ensure that all pensioners are on at least that level.
'Faced with a combination of high energy costs, ill-health and ever higher rates of pensioners in more costly privately rented accommodation, tackling pensioner poverty is not simply a DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) issue. So, we're calling for a nationwide, cross-government strategy for an ageing society that should be rooted in equity and wellbeing.'
On Tuesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that a review into raising the state pension age is needed to ensure the system is 'sustainable and affordable'.
The Government review is due to report in March 2029 and Ms Reeves said it was 'right' to look at the age at which people can receive the state pension as life expectancy increases.
The state pension age is currently 66, rising to 67 by 2028 and the Government is legally required to periodically review the age.
A Government spokesperson said: 'Supporting pensioners is a top priority, and thanks to our commitment to the triple lock, millions will see their yearly state pension rise by up to £1,900 by the end of this parliament.
'We have also run the biggest-ever campaign to boost pension credit take-up, with nearly 60,000 extra pensioner households being awarded the benefit, worth on average around £4,300 a year.
'But we know there is a real risk that tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, which is why we are reviving the Pension Commission, to tackle the barriers that stop too many people from saving.'
Emma Douglas, wealth policy director at Aviva, said: 'The pensions industry – alongside a revitalised Pensions Commission – has a critical role to play in helping people save for retirement and then turn their hard-earned pension pots into lasting financial security.
'With many people likely to manage their money well into their 90s, we must ensure those savings work harder and stretch further – especially as later life can bring complex challenges like cognitive decline.'
She said that Aviva and Age UK were exploring a 'mid-retirement MOT' to help give people tools, guidance, and confidence to stay financially resilient throughout retirement.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: 'We warmly welcome this thoughtful and wide-ranging select committee report, which comes closer to providing a thorough and progressive strategic overview of the issues facing older people on low incomes and proposing workable solutions than anything successive governments have produced in recent years.
'When the Government announced the launch of the Pensions Commission earlier this week, ministers made it clear that its task is to think about the creation of a better system for future pensioners.
'This is necessary and important, but this committee report reinforces the point that there's work to do to improve the situation of today's pensioners on low incomes as well.'