End the 25p pension insult -NOW!

25p for over 80s is an insult!
When it was first introduced 37 years ago it bought a bag of coal. . . today it won’t even buy a second class stamp!

Protest by sending it back to the Chancellor

The state pension has been increased by just £3.40 a week. The additional 25p payment - first introduced in 1971 - is now seen 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 one in five 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."

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