Age Concern: NPC rally for higher state pension

Age Concern responds to NPC (National Pensioners Convention) march and rally on parliament to demand an increase in the Basic State Pension.

Gordon Lishman, Age Concern's Director General, said: "With over two million pensioners living below the poverty line and thousands more struggling to pay basic household bills, it's clear that current measures to lift pensioners out of poverty are falling pitifully short of the mark. With the cost of living rising rapidly, we want the Government to take the real rate of inflation for pensioners into account when uprating next year's Basic State Pension and Pension Credit.

"In the meantime, the Government should be working much harder to get the £5billion in unclaimed benefits cash to all those who need it. An emergency package of measures, including a one-off payment of at least £100 for all pensioners entitled to benefits, should also be introduced to help the most vulnerable older people get through this winter."