Julia Neuberger’s manifesto

• Julia Neuberger puts forward 10 demands old people should make on society:
  
  1. Do not make assumptions about my age: end age discrimination
  
  2. Do not waste my skills and experience: the right to work
  
  3. Do not take my pride away: end begging for entitlements
  
  4. Do not trap me at home because there are no public loos or seats: reclaim the streets
  
  5. Do not make me braindead, let me grow: open access to learning
  
  6. Do not force me into a care home: real choice in housing
  
  7. Do not treat those who look after me like rubbish: train and reward care assistants properly
  
  8. Do not treat me like I am not worth repairing: increase the number of community beds in hospitals
  
  9. Do not treat my death as meaningless: the right to die well
  
  10. Do not assume I’m not enjoying life: grey rage

The baroness leading a grey-power rebellion

Julia Neuberger is fed up with the way society arginalises older people. It’s time they fought back, she tells Alex Kasriel in the Jewish Chronicle

Julia Neuberger has a thing about loos. She wishes there were more public ones. Why? Because she feels that without them, old people are too scared to go out.

“If we were serious about rights for old people, public loos wouldn’t be shut all over the place and they would be staffed,” argues the 58-year-old rabbi and member of the House of Lords, who advises the government on volunteering policy. “Old people just have to go and they don’t want to go in McDonald’s. But because there is an element of bathos about even mentioning it, nothing is done.”
While she does not count herself as one of them just yet, the life peer has made old people her priority. In her new manifesto for old age, Not Dead Yet, she sets out a 10-point plan suggesting how society should prevent senior citizens from feeling marginalised and encourage them to be a more active part of the community.

The book is light and easy to read, but spells out an important message. Neuberger complains about internet banking and its related struggles, she is furious about the law on early retirement, and thinks it is unacceptable that there is little or no funding for continuing education. She wonders why old people are not better represented in areas of public life such as local councils, and is angry about the way in which old people are patronised by the media.
“Newspapers write about older people who do these so-called amazing things like sky-diving,” she says. “I feel like saying: ‘Why shouldn’t they go skydiving if they are able to?’”
She also thinks old people are vilified because they are a burgeoning group of society. “They’re being perceived as a burden. People are resentful of that. But why does the media focus on youth culture? If they wanted a bigger audience, they would go for an older one,” she says.
Not Dead Yet, which goes on sale this week, has already had wide coverage in the media, with extracts printed in a national newspaper and interviews on radio and in the press. Neuberger puts this down to good timing — the publication of her book has coincided with news stories about the lack of decent care homes for elderly people.

“I’m not a writer, I’m a campaigner,” she explains about her decision to put pen to paper. “I got angrier and angrier about how we treat old people in our society. My mother [Liesel Schwab], who was very well cared for and well supported, didn’t feel her life meant anything when she got older. She couldn’t be who she was.”

While the book asks local and central government, the media, and the public to shift their prejudices, Neuberger is also calling on old people themselves to fight their own battle.
“I think older people themselves in this country have not been angry enough,” she says. “They are the generation who went through the war and the welfare state and everything’s done for them. I do think the government has really got some of this wrong, but I’m really saying to older people that they have to be more formidable. They have to be out there being angry.”

Neuberger points to the late trades-union leader Jack Jones as a good example of an older person who fought for grey rights when he served as the President of the National Pensioners Convention.
She argues that the retirement age should be based not on age, but on an individual’s capabilities. “There’s been wonderful staff at the House of Lords for example who have had to go at 65 who didn’t want to,” she says. “But the members can carry on for life. I think we should have to retire eventually at the House of Lords. There should be someone saying: ‘Actually, you’re not up to it any more.’ The test should be, are you good at this, not how old you are.”
But once you do retire, you should be thinking about how you are going to pass 30 years or so fruitfully. “What’s the point of cruising round the world for 30 years?”

Neuberger asks. “We can’t force people to do things, but we can say to them: ‘What are you going to do next?’ Whether it’s looking after your grandchildren, volunteering or studying — you could change the culture towards that. The question is, can you get the framework to make it easy for old people to volunteer at 70? Also, lots of people want to carry on studying. But the bulk of funding is given to younger people.”
One person who has injected a lust for life into the older generation is Tim Samuels, the 32-year-old BBC documentary filmmaker who formed pensioner rock group The Zimmers last year and helped them achieve a hit record with their song My Generation.

“He is a hero because he’s the first person I have been aware of, of his generation, who’s completely unpatronising about old people,” she says. “We need Tim to lead a media re-brand.”
Neuberger can count on one hand other media vehicles in which old people are portrayed with dignity and energy. One is the advertising campaign for Dove skincare products, which featured the 97-year-old model Irene Sinclair.

She believes old people should not be lumped into one box labelled “pensioners”. “It’s ludicrous to talk about a whole generation of people being aged from 60 to 100,” she argues. And being near that age herself but someone who has no intention of retiring any time soon, it seems obvious that she should not be classed in the same category as a dependent.
“I would have thought I’m going to be working for the next 10 years or so,” she says. “At the moment I’m at the House of Lords so I should be working until I’m 93. I don’t think people should be written off.”
Neuberger hopes to see a shift in society, one in which old people are thought of as dynamic and self-sufficient.
“I will feel I have achieved something if I see the beginnings of a real grey-power movement in this country,” she says. “If I see groups of older people out there, arguing their corner, I will have succeeded.”
Not Dead Yet is published by Harper Collins at £18.99

Neuberger’s manifesto - see page above

10p compensation is "too little, too late" for pensioners

Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has today criticised the Chancellor's proposed package of compensation for those aged under 65, as "too little, too late" to win back the support of older voters.

Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "Under the old system, a pensioner aged 60-64 with an income of £10,000 a year would have had an annual tax bill of £782. Even with Mr Darling's extra £600, the same pensioner will pay £793 in tax - still leaving them £11 worse off. This panic measure is too little too late and won't be enough to win back the trust and support of Britain's older voters. That can only come when the government agrees to raise the basic state pension substantially and restore its link with earnings."


TAX RATES FOR AGE 60-64

2007/08 £5225 Personal Allowance Tax Free
£2230 Tax at 10% £223
£2545 Tax at 22% £559.90
Totals £10,000 £782.90 Tax

2008/09 £6035 Personal Allowance Tax Free
£3965 Tax at 20% £793
Totals £10,000 £793 Tax

Campaigners pressing for action to lift tens of thousands of low income households out of "fuel poverty"

Ministers and energy companies are meeting campaigners pressing for action to lift tens of thousands of low income households out of "fuel poverty".
Ofgem, the energy regulator, is bringing together Government, industry and charities for a summit to address the plight of people struggling to pay rising gas and electricity bills.

A coalition of campaign groups released on Tuesday figures which, they said, showed the vast majority of pensioners and lone parents were now living in fuel poverty - defined as households spending more than 10% of their income on fuel costs.

Age Concern, the Child Poverty Action Group and National Energy Action said that almost one in five households, or 4.5 million people, were now affected.

According to their figures, the average fuel bill for 65 to 74-year-olds has leapt to £1,000, a rise of 15% for a single pensioner.
At the same time the price comparison service uSwitch.com published a survey suggesting 6.8 million households were in debt to their energy suppliers - with average arrears of £114.

Ministers say that they have put in place a raft of measures to tackle the problem - including winter fuel payments for pensioners - while the energy companies were required to invest £1 billion-a-year in making low income households more energy efficient.

Pensions Link to Earnings Blocked by Government

The media has focused for the last few days on the threat of a rebellion by Labour MPs on the abolition of the 10p tax rate but tonight there was an equally important vote in Parliament that has gone ignored by the press.The House of Commons was debating the final stages of the Government's Pensions Bill.

An amendment was moved and supported by a number of Labour MPs to urge the Government to set a date for the restoration of the link between earnings and pensions.The background to this issue is that as part of her attack on the welfare state Mrs Thatcher broke the link whereby state pensions would be increased each year by either the increase in inflation or earnings, whichever was the highest.

Raising pensions only in line with inflation has meant that pensioners have lost out on over £35 a week.In opposition the Labour Party promised to restore the link to earnings and after a long and hard campaign by pensioner organisations, particularly the National Pensioners Convention, Gordon Brown as Chancellor had to concede to restoring the link. However he only promised to do this at the earliest in 2012 and possibly only by 2015 if he judged the economic situation permitted.

This bitterly disappointed the pensioner groups because many current pensioners would simply not be alive by that time to enjoy the benefits of the restoration of the link. In the meantime 2 million pensioners remain in poverty. It is estimated by the Government that 60% of pensioners will eventually be forced to rely upon means tested benefits but the Government's own figures demonstrate that 40% of pensioners do not claim the means tested pensioner credits they are entitled to.

Tonight's amendment called upon the Government to announce the date when the earnings link will be restored in its next pre budget report. So it was hardly a revolutionary demand.

Nevertheless the Government opposed it and despite 20 Labour MPs voting against the Government the amendment was lost. It's an irony that 24 hours after the Government was able to find £30 billion to bail out the banks who have profiteered at our expense over the last decade, it can't find less than a half a billion to fulfil a longstanding pledge to our pensioners.

It demonstrates quite clearly where the Prime Minister's priorities lie.

New research reveals shocking reality of pensioner poverty

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, has claimed the latest pension research from the UK Statistics Authority reveals the shocking reality of pensioner hardship in 21st century Britain.Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "For years, successive governments told us that it was okay to keep the state pension low because private company pension schemes would ensure that everyone had a comfortable income in retirement. But these figures prove that was a myth. A 100 years after the first ever state pension and 62% of pensioner couples and at least 50% of single pensioners are living well below the official poverty line. It is a national scandal, yet the government's only solution is to offer people means-tested benefits and delay restoring the link with earnings until 2012. The country can afford to give all older people a decent pension of at least £135 a week that goes up each year in line with wages. After 100 years, it's time we ended pensioner poverty for good.

PENSION FACTS

• The state pension link with average earnings was broken in 1980. Had the link remained, today's state pension for an individual would now be worth £145.15 a week rather than £90.70.
• By the time the link is restored by the government in 2012, 3m of today's pensioners will have already died.
• The national insruance fund currently has a surplus balance of £46bn.
• Around 1.8m pensioners do not claim the means-tested Pension Credit, despite being eligible.
• 1 in 5 pensioners live below the official poverty line, the vast majority of them women.

For more information contact Neil Duncan-Jordan on 07940-357-608Visit www.pension 100.co.uk for information about the NPC's pension campaign

Pensioners stage 25p protest

Britain's biggest pensioner organisation is today calling on all older people aged 80 and over to send the 25p weekly age addition they receive, back to the Chancellor, in protest at the government's continued failure to substantially raise the basic state pension.

The National Pensioners Convention's (NPC) call comes on the day the state pension is increased by just £3.40 a week extra. But the additional 25p payment - first introduced in 1971 - is now seen by many older people as insulting and derisory.

Thirty seven years ago, the extra weekly payment for those aged 80 and over was set at 25p in line with the value of a bag of coal. At the time, it was considered a valuable addition to the weekly state pension of £5. Today, if it had risen relative to the state pension - it would be worth around £4.50 a week.

But over the years, its continued neglect has made it a symbol of discontent amongst Britain's elderly. Even pensions minister Mike O'Brien acknowledged in a parliamentary debate last year that the 25p payment was "an insult", after his mother had complained about it.

Joe Harris, NPC general secretary said: "There are around 2.6m people aged 80 and over, and every week they receive this pathetic payment which rubs their noses in the fact that their state pension of £90.70 a week, is so pitifully low. Today, the age addition can't even buy a 27p second class stamp. I think sending 25p back to the Chancellor will show how angry pensioners really are."

"This year represents the centenary of the state pension - yet 1 in 5 older people, particularly those older pensioners, are living below the official poverty line. The government has said it will restore the pension link to earnings in 2012, but by that time 3m of today's pensioners will have already died. We need a decent state pension now, set at around £135 a week, which allows all older people to live in dignity in retirement."