Mick Scrimshaw on Dignity for the Elderly

The NHS and our social security system should be there for all of us in our time of need and provide security and dignity in retirement. Labour will always be on the side of pensioners and help ensure security and dignity for older people.

As a County Councillor I am only too aware of the failings in our Social Care system and the appalling lack of suitable funding. I have publically commented on the Conservative Government’s con-trick in bringing in the new Adult Social Care Precept which was just a clever method of putting up council tax without breaking the rules they had themselves brought in.

You can read my previous blog post about this issue here: https://www.ketteringlabourparty.org/explanation-of-council-tax-rises-and-adult-social-care-precept/.

The recent Conservative manifesto launch has also raised real concern about how social care for the elderly will be funded in the future, and again, I have made my views known publicly. Again you can read my previous blog post and where I stand on Social Care here: https://www.ketteringlabourparty.org/mick-scrimshaw-on-social-care/.

The Conservatives have also abandoned their commitment to older people by removing their promise to defend the triple lock on pensions and announced means testing for the Winter Fuel Allowance.

Personally I have always believed that as a society we owe a debt of gratitude to our elderly and would actually like to do far more to help them than is being promised by any of the political parties. In the meantime though I am more than happy to stand on the Labour manifesto with regards how we plan to support our elderly:

• Labour will guarantee the state pension ‘triple lock’ throughout the next Parliament. It will rise by at least 2.5 per cent a year or be increased to keep pace with inflation or earnings, whichever is higher.
• We will protect the pensions of UK citizens living overseas in the EU or further afield.
• The Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes will also be guaranteed as universal benefits.
• Over 2.5 million women born in the 1950s have had their state pension age changed without fair notification. These women deserve both recognition for the injustice they have suffered and some kind of compensation for their losses.
• Labour rejects the Conservatives’ proposal to increase the state pension age even further. We will commission a new review of the pension age, specifically tasked with developing a flexible retirement policy to reflect both the contributions made by people, the wide variations in life expectancy, and the arduous conditions of some work.