Comments on: Unreported: pensioner poverty falls by 900,000

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:08:59 +0000

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by leftfootfwd: Unreported by most mainstream media: Pensioner poverty has fallen 900,000 in a decade http://bit.ly/cBb5gy...

By: Andrew Roche

Andrew Roche — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:23:06 +0000

Unreported: pensioner poverty falls by 900,000 http://ff.im/-f2zal

By: Fony Blair

Fony Blair — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:45:07 +0000

Will – Labour may well have introduced all those measures….I’m sure they did. But if there are still c.2M in poverty then according to Labour doctrine of all people being equal something isn’t right is it!? 12 years to resolve it and yet nothing done other than raiding private pensions.

My point on higher tax relief is that those in that tax bracket are key descision makers re: setting up or maintianing company pensions. If there is no reason for those people to save into a pension (and with no tax relief what is the point? You may as well save in an investment vehicle where you have complete control) why would they continue to support them and to give company contributions etc.

By: Further Reading | Westminster Blog | FT.com

Further Reading | Westminster Blog | FT.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:47:41 +0000

[...] Pensioner poverty has fallen by nearly a million under Labour, says the ONS [...]

By: Will Straw

Will Straw — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:00:50 +0000

David – Thanks for pointing that out to Balham and Silent. I reprinted the graph to show all the different lines but focused on 60% since that is the accepted definition of the poverty line.

Mark – I agree that the hard to reach are a problem but lifting 900,000 pensioners out of poverty is no small achievement. For those interested, Chapter 11 of Pension Trends has lots of information about how incomes have risen since the 1990s which show that this is not just a statistical oddity.

Fony – Short memory. The Minimum Income Guarantee (introduced in 1999 and replaced in 2003 by the Pension Credit) has made a huge difference as has the winter fuel payment. Tax relief for high earners? That was clearly helping poor pensioners wasn’t it. Socialism rocks? Correct.

By: Vladimir Klimko

Vladimir Klimko — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:16:54 +0000

#CFP #SKP Unreported: pensioner poverty falls by a third | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/9qfoyE http://frostfires.com/notice/288642

By: The Free Market

The Free Market — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:45:27 +0000

#CFP #SKP Unreported: pensioner poverty falls by a third | Left Foot Forward http://bit.ly/9qfoyE

By: Charlotte MacKenzie

Charlotte MacKenzie — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:39:25 +0000

Pensioner poverty falls by 900,000 http://bit.ly/agEgiX

By: Fony Blair

Fony Blair — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:58:04 +0000

I would imagine the 900,000 decrease is down mostly to 13 years of pensioner deaths and relative poverty decreasing for those enterijng retirement rather than any wonderful policy by Labour.

Thee is only one way to reduce poverty for pensioners and that is to give them money. Labourt haven’t! Don;t talk about % increases the actual money provided is basically peanuts.

In all honesty though these figures should be used to encourage people to save for their own retirement rather than relying on the state.

Oh what was that…..Labour have decided to remove tax relief to high earners….the very same people who make decisions about pensions in organisations. I’m sure they will be really motivated to set up company pension schemes to encourage people to save.

Socialism rocks!!!

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:28:11 +0000

Good news but as Balham Bugle hints, there’s been a lot of effort to massage the numbers by targeting the marginal poverty cases. This isn’t progressive, it’s jooking the numbers.

It’s the hard to reach pensioners in deep poverty I worry about.