- Conference
- 2012 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 13 June 2012
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes that it remains the intention of the Government to introduce a new flat rate basic state pension, corresponding to a current figure of £140 per week, in 2016.
Whilst the introduction of such a flat rate pension will alleviate the disparity between women’s and men’s pensions in the future, Conference notes that the proposals are unacceptable for the following reasons:
1)The new arrangements will not be backdated and many pensioners will remain financially disadvantaged;
2)No new money is to be provided and the increase in basic pensions will be funded by making people work longer and retire later;
3)By combining the basic pension with the state earnings related pension (SERPS) some future pensioners will actually be worse off than under the present scheme;
4)In any event the new basic figure of £140 per week is considerably lower than the official poverty line figure of £178 per week.
Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls upon the NEC to:
A)Initiate a Campaign to have a basic state pension in line with the official poverty line figure (currently £178 a week) for all pensioners;
B)Work closely with the TUC, STUC, NPC, SPF and other Trades Unions and relevant Organisations to get support for such a campaign; and
C)Work with the National Women’s Committee to highlight the gap in pension provision between men and women and include the ending of such discrimination in all future campaigns to improve the state pension.