Age Concern: pensioners need more financial support

By MoneyhighStreet Staff. Published on November 20, 2008 This post currently has no comments.

on a bench
The government needs to include measures to help struggling pensioners in its forthcoming pre-Budget report, Age Concern has urged.

There is growing concern over the financial stats of Britain''s older people, who are in need of measures to ease "financial pressure and uncertainty", such as increases to the Winter Fuel Payment.

The charity has called for better incentives to encourage over 50s back to work and the scrapping of mandatory retirement ages.

Age Concern director general, Gordon Lisham, said: "Millions of older people will be looking to the government to deliver a pre-Budget report that lives up to its rhetoric on fairness, and eases their financial pressure and uncertainty.

"The government must ensure that its fiscal stimulus package does not ignore the needs of millions of older people who are quickly running out of ways to pay their bills."

The comments follow research by The Hartford, which showed that more than half of British older people are concerned about their ability to cope financially when they reach retirement age.