Miliband announces Labour’s plan for older people

Tomorrow (Friday March 6th) Ed Miliband will lay out Labour’s plans for older people – including how the party would protect pensions, retirement savings and free TV licences and bus passes.

Miliband will make this announcement in Redcar (no.91 on their target seat list). While there he’ll say Labour would guarantee there would only be changes to Winter Fuel Payments for the richest 5% of pensioners but would keep TV licences and bus passes free for all who are of pension age.

The Labour leader will also explain that the party would put a cap on the fees on new pension products and create 5,000 homecare workers, which would be accompanied by a new system of safety checks, to help vulnerable older people

It’s expected that Miliband will outline how the Tories have failed older people, before outlining Labour’s plan:

“David Cameron likes to boast he has looked after pensioners but like all his other claims from immigration to the deficit to live TV debates, you have to read the small print. 

“Because the truth is he can’t be trusted to protect pensioners any more than he can be trusted on living standards for working families.

“For years, David Cameron and George Osborne failed to heed Labour’s call for an end to rip-off fees which eat away the value of pension savings. They are now introducing pension reforms without ensuring the proper safeguards against fraud and mis-selling are in place. 

“They have stripped back social care so much that we have been left with the scandal of 15-minute visits for some of the most vulnerable and an NHS bill running into hundreds of millions because of unnecessary hospital admissions. And now they want to go further and faster, cutting public services year after year even when the books have balanced until spending has fallen to a level not seen since the 1930s before there was an NHS. 

“And, the whole country knows that these Tories will never stand up to the powerful energy companies that for too long have been charging rip-off prices to millions of pensioners struggling to keep their homes warm. 

“Labour has a better plan for protecting pensioners. 

“We have taken a difficult decision to restrict Winter Fuel Payments for the very richest older people, the top 5% with retirement incomes that make them higher rate tax payers.

“But today I can announce that is the only change we are planning in the system. Because even in these tough times when the deficit must be cleared, Labour knows the importance of ensuring those who have worked all their lives can retire with dignity. 

“We will strengthen the protection for pensioners’ living standards offered by the triple lock by guaranteeing Winter Fuel payments to all but the wealthiest, as well as bus passes and free TV licences to all those currently eligible.

“This is a big commitment but it is one I am making today because doing right by older people is the right thing to do.

“And we will do even more because, unlike other parties, we will stand up for pensioners by standing up to the vested interests. 

“We will act to protect savings by capping rip-off fees and charges on new pension products coming on the market now so that when people draw money out of their hard-earned pension pot, they have similar protections as they do when they put money in.

“We will act to protect pensioners being hit with sky-high energy bills by taking on those gas and electricity firms, freezing their prices until 2017 so they can only go down and not up, as well as ensuring that older people in poverty can cut bills further with free insulation and efficiency improvements.

“And we will act to protect the frail and vulnerable, driving out the culture of 15-minute care slots and bringing in a new arm of the NHS with 5,000 homecare workers.

“This is a better plan for older people. The next Labour government will protect pensioners’ income, safeguard retirement savings, keep homes warm, and improve care for those who are frail or vulnerable.”