The Wellbeing Pension Story
Right now the UK is experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in thirty years. The cost of food and energy in particular have been skyrocketing and people from all parts of society are struggling to make ends meet.
The UK’s older folks are one of our most vulnerable groups and the UK’s basic state pension does not offer them enough to live on.
A Wellbeing Pension would meet the basic costs of living and allow those dependent on the basic state pension to have enough money to live with dignity. The current UK basic state pension falls woefully short of what is needed.
The need for a Wellbeing Pension was identified by economist, author and newspaper columnist Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, whilst researching pensions policy. Gordon is a leading campaigner for the adoption of the Wellbeing Economic Approach, a key part of which is that wealthy nations should not have poor pensioners.
In 2019, the world’s largest economics think tank, the OECD, published a comparison of international pension systems, concluding that the British basic state pension was the worst in the developed world. To address that terrible record, the UK government introduced workplace pensions. The latest OECD pensions report now predicts that people joining the workforce in 2022 and working for 35 years, paying both full National Insurance and Workplace Pensions contributions, will receive an ‘average pension’ but that is incredibly misleading .
The UK Government thinks that Workplace Pensions mean the job is done but we think that this is not enough. The current UK basic state pension of £169.50 remains one of the worst in the world and the introduction of Workplace Pensions does nothing to help those who are currently retired or approaching retirement right now.
So why a petition?
Well, the UK Government in Westminster sets the UK pension policy and they abandoned pensioners in the face of the cost of living crisis. Just because inflation has come down that doesn’t mean prices are not still high it just means that they are not increasing at the same rate. The last Westminster Government have broke their Triple-Lock-Guarantee cancelling the planned inflation matching pension rise in 2022 – costing pensioners up to £487.00 a year and plunging many of our most vulnerable older people into poverty. Re-establishing the Triple-Lock-Guarantee since doesn’t repay that loss it continues it as future rises are based on a lower starting pension.
Enough is enough!
You can help us tell the UK Pensions Minister that enough is enough: to reinstate the money lost via the triple-lock abandonment, pay back the cancelled inflation matching pensions rise and then raise the UK basic state pension to £241.50 per week, lifting hundreds of thousands out of Government-enforced poverty.
WE NEED TO PRIORITISE PENSIONER WELLBEING
HELP US send a message to the UK’s Pensions Minister by signing our petition stating loud and clear that pensioner poverty is unacceptable and that a Wellbeing Pension of £241.50 per week is required.
Sycamore House,
290 Bath Street,
3rd floor, Suite 1A,
Glasgow, G2 4JR