Jeremy Corbyn proposes plan for older people with flexible pension age

Jeremy Corbyn has outlined part of his plan for older people with a flexible pension age.

Writing in the Telegraph (£) the leadership candidate argues against increasing the pension wage and cutting social care provision and instead proposes a flexible pension age “that allows people to work for as long as they want to”. He notes that raising the pension age mostly affects lower-paid workers.

Corbyn suggests that these measures would be paid for by increasing income tax rates – including the basic rate of income tax – and corporation tax, which will be at 18% by 2020.

“But this agenda for older people also means we have to talk about tax. The basic rate of income tax was 25 per cent a generation ago; now it’s 20 per cent. For most of Mrs Thatcher’s time in office, higher earners were paying 60 per cent; now even the super-rich only face a 45 per cent rate. After 18 years of Thatcher and Major’s Conservative governments corporation tax was 33 per cent. If George Osborne has his way it will be just 18 per cent by 2020”, he writes.

Corbyn says that these funding options are up for discussion. He says that he wants his party to set up an Older People’s Commission “to create a new deal for older people”.

Research suggests that Labour failed to appeal to older people, and this was one of the factors that contributed to the party’s general election loss.

The leadership contender praises Labour’s record on older people, and criticises the government’s cuts to public services.

“The winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and free TV licences for over-75s all served to reduce pensioner poverty, and to deal with the higher costs of living and risks of social exclusion pensioners face. By 2010, Labour policies had lifted nearly one million pensioners out of poverty The cuts to public services are having a big impact on older people. Most starkly, £4.6 billion has been cut from social care budgets since 2011” , he says.