The government published a Concessionary Bus Travel Bill. The Bill was designed to provide for free off-peak local bus travel for pensioners and disabled people.
Source: Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL], Department for Transport, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Downing Street Briefing | Age Concern press release | Transport 2000 press release | Times report | FT report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that mobility problems meant that large numbers of older people in Wales were at risk of falling into 'food poverty' and malnutrition.
Source: Food Poverty and Older People, Welsh Consumer Council (029 2025 5454)
Links: Report | WCC press release
Date: 2006-Aug
A paper examined the impact of reforms to state pensions on the well-being of elderly people. Increases in state pensions had led to increased incomes, reductions in measures of both relative and absolute income poverty, and increased expenditure.
Source: James Banks, Richard Blundell, Carl Emmerson and Zo Oldfield, State Pensions and the Well-being of the Elderly in the UK, Working Paper W06/14, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Date: 2006-Aug
A report examined which pensioners did not spend a substantial share of their income, and why that might be the case. Although the better-off were more likely to spend a low share of their income than poorer pensioners, low spending was by no means the preserve only of the better-off.
Source: Naomi Finch and Peter Kemp, Which Pensioners Don t Spend Their Income and Why?, Research Report 334, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Jul
An audit report highlighted the need to develop local work to reach those pensioners who were not claiming benefits to which they were entitled. It proposed the creation of a wider target to tackle pensioner poverty.
Source: Progress in Tackling Pensioner Poverty: Encouraging take-up of entitlements, HC 1178 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | Age Concern press release | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A report examined the robustness of estimates of age variations in living standards. It showed how deprivation scores varied cross-sectionally (between elderly and younger people at any point of time), and longitudinally (indicating how deprivation scores changed as people grew older). The cross-sectional evidence showed wide variations in apparent age effects, depending on the measure used.
Source: Richard Berthoud, Morten Blekesaune and Ruth Hancock, Are Poor Pensioners Deprived ?, Research Report 364, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Jul
A report examined how well material deprivation measures reflected the experience of poverty among older people. A sizeable minority felt better off in retirement or had always felt comfortable. However, a larger number felt worse off in retirement or felt that they had always struggled financially.
Source: Nicola Dominy and Elaine Kempson, Understanding Older People s Experiences of Poverty and Material Deprivation, Research Report 363, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | Bristol University press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A report examined the management of finances, property, and other assets of older people by relatives and friends.
Source: Hilary Arksey, Anne Corden, Caroline Glendinning and Michael Hirst, Minding the Money: Carers and the management of financial assets in later life, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608)
Date: 2006-Jul
A report examined the behavioural response to the reform (in 2001) of the minimum income guarantee for pensioners. The take-up response was found to be "significant and positive".
Source: Stephen Pudney, Francesca Zantomio and Ruth Hancock, Estimating the Impact of a Policy Reform on Welfare Participation: The 2001 extension to the Minimum Income Guarantee for UK pensioners, Working Paper 2006-21, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Jun
Campaigners said that they supported the Pension Commission?s approach of a more generous state system, an improved system for carers and other low-income groups, and improved opportunities for private savings. But they also urged the government to do more for existing pensioners.
Source: Dignity, Security, Opportunity: A decent income for current and future pensioners, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Report | Age Concern press release
Date: 2006-May
The government published the latest estimates of the take-up of pension credit (introduced in October 2003) in Great Britain. It provided estimates for 2004-05 and re-presented estimates for 2003-04. Total pension credit take-up in 2004-05 was in the range of 61-69 per cent by caseload and 72-79 per cent by expenditure.
Source: Pension Credit Estimates of Take-Up in 2004/2005, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | Age Concern press release
Date: 2006-May
An article examined attitudes to assets and inheritance. People generally took a balanced and pragmatic attitude to their resources. They did not wish to live poor to die rich : but nor were they keen to spend their resources recklessly, as they wished to leave something to their families, while also maintaining a reasonable standard of living in later life. 'Asset-based welfare policies should broaden their focus on asset accumulation to consider issues around asset use.
Source: Karen Rowlingson, ' Living poor to die rich ? Or spending the kids' inheritance ? Attitudes to assets and inheritance in later life', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A paper used models of benefit take-up by pensioners to infer the cash-equivalent value of disutility arising from stigma or complexity of the claims process.
Source: Monica Hernandez, Stephen Pudney and Ruth Hancock, The Welfare Cost of Means-testing: Pensioner participation in income support, Working Paper 2006-12, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Apr
A report said that that there were three primary barriers that prevented older people from making a claim for pension credit: a belief that they were not eligible, a concern about how the receipt of pension credit would interact with other benefits they were receiving, and a lack of awareness of pension credit.
Source: Karen Bunt, Lorna Adams and Courtney Leo, Understanding the Relationship between the Barriers and Triggers to Claiming Pension Credit, Research Report 336, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Apr
A report said that differences in material resources and financial well-being in old age were determined by earlier life experiences - for example, engagement in the labour market and subsequent ability to save and invest.
Source: Vanessa Burholt and Gill Windle, The Material Resources and Well-being of Older People, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings
Date: 2006-Mar
The government reportedly said that it would not require the repayment of 130 million in overpaid pension credit.
Source: BBC report, 10 March 2006 Links: BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
The average net income of pensioners was around 25 per cent higher in 2004-05 than in 1996-97: this was almost certainly a larger increase than that in average earnings (15 per cent over the same period). Recent growth in average income had been driven by continued increases in benefit and occupational pension income.
Source: Stephen Balchin and David Finch (eds.), Pensioners' Incomes Series 2004/5, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release
Date: 2006-Mar
An article said that more than 40 per cent of men who retired before 65 felt that they were forced to do so because of ill-health or redundancy. These people were significantly worse off in retirement, measured by their spending on food, than they were before retirement.
Source: Sarah Smith, 'The retirement-consumption puzzle and involuntary early retirement: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey', Economic Journal, March 2006
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
A new book examined the problem of low take-up of means-tested benefits for older people. It looked at existing research on take-up, highlighting gaps in understanding, and explored the strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical base. It also explored the importance that take-up had had for the Labour government, and the prospects of policy for improving it.
Source: Paul Dornan, Delivering Benefits in Old Age: The take up of the minimum income guarantee, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
A report examined what life was like for older people living on a low income. Most felt they could get by on their income, which was sufficient to cover essential costs such as fuel and basic food. But many felt they did not have a decent standard of living, because they worried about money and could not afford things such as clothes that were not second hand, entertaining friends, holidays, or the occasional treat.
Source: Lorna Adams and Sally West, Just Above the Bread Line: Living on a low income in later life, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Mar
The 2006 Budget did not propose a repeat of the 200 council tax rebate for pensioner households given in 2005-06, and the winter fuel payment was frozen. But it proposed free national bus travel in England for people over 60, and disabled people, from 1 April 2006.
Source: Budget 2006: A strong and strengthening economy - Investing in Britain s future, Cm 968, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release | DT press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A report criticized the recommendations of the Pensions Commission, and said that the needs of the 11 million existing pensioners had to be addressed if there were to be a genuine consensus on pension reform. The report called on the government to raise the basic state pension for all pensioners as a matter of urgency.
Source: The Priorities of Pension Reform, National Pensioners Convention (020 7553 6510)
Links: NPC press release
Date: 2006-Feb
An audit report said that 'significant numbers' of older people were paying too much or too little tax.
Source: Dealing with the Tax Obligations of Older People, HC 961 (Session 2008-09), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | Consumer Association press release | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jan
A study found that more than 1 in 3 grandparent carers (38 per cent) looking after children were living below the poverty line and 'struggling to cope'.
Source: Oonagh Murphy-Jack and Rachel Smethers, Recognition, Respect, Reward, Grandparents Plus (020 8981 8001)
Links: Report | Grandparents Plus press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
