Pension promise broken

Britain’s biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has accused the chancellor of breaking a promise over his decision in the Budget to freeze the age-related tax allowances from next April (see Fact Service issue 12).

In the Budget Red Book from March 2011, a paragraph on page 35 states: “For the duration of this Parliament, the annual increases in the employers NICs, and the age-related allowance and other thresholds for older people, will be over-indexed compared to the CPI, and will increase by the equivalent of the RPI.”

Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary, said: “Clearly George Osborne is guilty of double-dealing when it comes to the age-related tax allowances. He said one thing last year — and 12 months later he has completely ripped the whole thing up. No wonder pensioners are saying they can’t trust the government.

“The chancellor seems to have underestimated the impact of this proposal — because it has been seen by many as the last straw that comes on top of cuts to the winter fuel allowance, changes to pensions, reductions in care services and rising costs of living."

The NPC has launched an online petition calling on the government to reverse its freeze of the allowances. In a short space of time, over 50,000 people have signed the petition.

Fact Service readers can add their name by following the link:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

http://npcuk.org/830