Nick with Pensions Minister Angela Eagle and NEOPAG Chair Elsie Richardson

Nick Brown today spoke at a conference at the Assembly Rooms organised by the North East Older People’s Advisory Group. More than a hundred elder citizens gathered to tell Nick and Pensions Minister Angela Eagle what more the Government can do to make their lives easier and better.

In 2007, for the first time ever, there were more people in Britain over the age of 65 than under the age of 16. By 2020, over half the adult population will be over 50. Making plans now to take care of our older citizens will be to the benefit of us all.

This Government has a decent record on protecting our pensioners. The Government recently set aside a new £33m fund for making sure that council houses are properly equipped for older residents. Labour’s ambitious plans for a National Care Service, to work alongside the NHS, will mean more older people will receive free personal care in their own home.

Targeted measures such as the Winter Fuel Payments, free bus passes and Pensions Credit have made a real difference to people’s weekly budgets. Over 100,000 pensioners in our region have been lifted out of relative poverty in the past ten years, and pensioners in the North East are now less likely to live in relative poverty than the national population as a whole. In total the UK now spends £13bn more per year on pensioners than if the policies of the last Conservative Government had carried on after 1997.

Around £200 million in payments has been racked up so far this winter, with just over £70 million of this over the cold New Year’s weekend.

Nick said: “The Labour Government are helping vulnerable people in two ways this winter – with Winter Fuel payments of £250 or £400 for the over 80s, and 148,800 people in the North East getting the increased Cold Weather Payments of £25. The severe cold weather we have experienced over Christmas and the New Year has already triggered three extra payments for people in the North East, meaning that the most vulnerable in our community will receive £75 towards their heating costs.”

The payments are automatic so everyone entitled will get them and should not worry about turning up their heating.

This is a far cry from the 1980s when Tory Minister Edwina Currie told pensioners just to “Wear woolly hats and long johns” in cold weather. In 1997 the Tories spent less than £60m a year helping pensioners meet their fuel bills – Labour today spends around £2.7bn a year.

Pensioner households will on average be around £1,500 a year better off in 2009/10 due to the Government’s personal tax and benefit changes than they would have been under the 1997 system. The poorest third of pensioner households will on average be around £2,100 a year better off.

Nick said: “The average weekly amount of Pension Credit paid to eligible pensioners in Newcastle is worth £48.25 per week. We know there could be as many as 110,000 North East Pensioners who although entitled to this money are currently not receiving it. We therefore need a good take up campaign to get pensioners the money that is rightfully theirs.

“The Government has taken targeted action to support families, businesses and jobs through the current downturn.  Pension Credit is just one of the ways that is being done. There is entitlement to working tax credit and family tax credit as well.

“Tuesday’s visit to Tyneside by Angela Eagle, the Minister for Pensions highlighted the work that the Government is doing to publicise entitlement and provide checks to ensure that where there is an entitlement, people get the real help, available now. But we need to do more.

“I can announce today that together with professional advisers from the Department for Work and Pensions I will be organising, over the summer recess, mobile advice centres, estate by estate, in my constituency to make sure that I do everything I can to make sure that every constituent gets their full entitlement.

“I am delighted that the Evening Chronicle has agreed to support and join with me in promoting this take up campaign, which complements the good work they have already done on their own Crunchbuster campaign. It is going to be a busy summer.”

Since 1997, Labour has lifted almost a million pensioners out of relative poverty, and almost two million out of absolute poverty. That’s down to increased investment from the Government. Around £12bn more is now spent on pensioners each year than in 1997, meaning that the average pensioner is now about £1500 a year better off. It’s also down to targeted measure like free bus travel, free TV licenses for over-75s, and substantial Winter Fuel Payments.

The single biggest reason pensioners are now in poverty is because they do not claim the income related benefits they are entitled to. It estimated that as many as 110 000 pensioners in the North East alone are not claiming their full level of Pension Credit. Making sure people know about these allowances, and making sure they know where and how to take them up, is now key to tackling pensioner poverty.

The Government will soon be launching a new awareness drive on this issue. As part of the regional effort I’ll be running a take up campaign in my constituency to let people know about the assistance that’s on offer. I’ll be getting round over the summer recess, street by street and ward by ward, to make sure our pensioners are claiming everything they’re entitled to.

During difficult economic times, the right thing to do is to offer assistance to those who need it most. The Government is moving to make sure our older people can enjoy the more comfortable retirement that they deserve. We should never forget the threat that would be posed to the most vulnerable in our communities by cutting services in response to the downturn.