§ 13. Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle)If she will review the 25p per week pension addition to pensioners aged over 80 years. [47480]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Mr. John Denham)The pensions review is looking at the central areas of insecurity for elderly people, including the value and uprating of the basic pension.
§ Mr. PrenticeIs it not an absolute disgrace that the 25p age addition for pensioners over 80 has not been increased since its introduction in 1971? If it had been uprated since then, it would probably now be worth about £1.70 or £1.80. Is it not a fact that what pensioners 734 over80 really want is a decent state pension? If we are to continue with the age addition, it should be uprated—otherwise it should be scrapped.
§ Mr. DenhamMy hon. Friend is right: no Government have uprated the age addition since it was introduced. That is one of the reasons why a fundamental pensions review is necessary.
Many older pensioners are the poorest, which is why the House has welcomed the pilot projects set up by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to look into ways of securing more automatic help for the poorest pensioners. As the House has already heard this afternoon, we are finding that those pensioners—many of whom are the oldest—are going without between 24p and £51 a week, and we are taking action to deal with that problem for the benefit of the poorest and oldest pensioners.