The Tories’ plan is letting older people down – Labour have a better one 

This article is written by Rachel Reeves MP and Andy Burnham MP

Older people have been let down by the Tories’ failing plan. Pensioners’ living standards have been hit by the Tories’ refusal to act on rip-off energy fees and pension charges, and social care funding has been slashed.

No one will forget George Osborne’s ‘granny tax’, which saw 3.6 million pensioners lose an average of £68 a year. And the Tories’ have failed to come clean about the fact that their recent changes to pension credit mean that the basic state pension will go up next month by just 87p a week for a single person, with couples having to share a meagre rise of £1.20 a week. Meanwhile this government’s failure to stand up to the energy companies who are ripping off consumers has resulted in the average bill rising by £300 – hitting pensioners particularly hard.

So much for dignity and security in old age.

For those approaching retirement, things aren’t much better. Despite Labour’s calls in 2012 for urgent action on rip-off pension fees and charges, the government’s delay – with a cap in charges only due to start next month – has left savers £750 worse off. And they’re set to make the same mistake again with the new pension freedoms coming in on April 6. These reforms have been rushed through with staggering complacency, leaving millions of older people’s retirement funds at the mercy of fraudsters and scams. The Pension Wise advice service, which is supposed to guide people through these complex changes, doesn’t even have a phone number yet.

The Tories have abandoned older people who’ve lost their jobs and want to get back into work. Under this government, the number of over 50s who are long-term unemployed has gone up by 274%. This is a tragic waste not just for older people, but for Britain’s economy which urgently needs their skills, experience and contribution. With an ageing population, we can’t afford five more years of Tory neglect.

Nowhere is this more so than in the NHS, which is so central to older people’s security and peace of mind. Over the past five years the situation in social care has deteriorated rapidly, with hundreds of thousands of care workers now on zero hours contracts, only able to spend 15 minutes or less with the older people they look after. The NHS under the Tories has been pushed to breaking point, with one in four patients waiting a week or more for a GP appointment, millions of people waiting for more than four hours in A&E, and wards dangerously understaffed.

This all adds up to a bleak future for older people under the Tories. But Labour has a better plan.

We will protect the triple lock that ensures pensioner incomes keep pace with the cost of living. And while we have taken the tough decision to restrict Winter Fuel Allowance for the richest five per cent of pensioners to help pay down the deficit, we will guarantee that there will be no further changes to the Winter Fuel Allowance or to universal free TV licenses or bus passes for pensioners.

As Ed Miliband announced today, we’ll consult on how best to introduce a cap on fees and charges for the pensions products coming in next month, and we’ll work with the Financial Conduct Authority to makes sure there are proper protections against scams.

Our plans to freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017, pending longer term reforms to the energy market, will save a typical household £120 – real help for the growing number of pensioners facing fuel poverty. We will make sure that Winter Fuel Allowance payments are made earlier, and provide free loft insulation and efficiency improvements to hundreds of thousands of the poorest households in Britain.

Labour’s Time to Care pledge will restore the National Health Service and ensure that older people get the care and support they need. The £2.5 billion that we’ve committed will pay for 5,000 home care workers, and 20,000 more nurses – ensuring safe staffing in hospitals, and better personalised care outside of them. It will fund 8,000 more GPs, so that older people can access their GP more easily – with an appointment guaranteed within 48 hours – and stay healthy.

We’ll provide the joined-up, integrated care that will help older people stay in their homes.

And we’ll ban exploitative zero hours contracts, raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2020, and encourage more businesses to pay a Living Wage, to help improve the quality and continuity of home care services and end the scandal of 15-minute visits. Labour will support family carers by giving them a new right to ask for an annual health check, protected funding for carers’ breaks, and more help with hospital car parking costs.

We will help thousands of people over the age of 50 back into work through our Compulsory Jobs Guarantee, ensuring that older jobseekers who’ve been unemployed for over two years are guaranteed the offer of a paid job. And our plans to introduce a higher rate of Job Seekers Allowance will mean that older people who will have paid more into our social security system, get more out of it if they lose their job and fall on hard times.

The choice on May 7 is clear. A Tory government failing older people. Or a Labour government supporting pensioners, safeguarding people’s retirement and offering people dignity and security as they age.​

Rachel Reeves is MP for Leeds West and Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Andy Burnham is MP for Leigh and Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Health.