Plan to help today's and tomorrow's pensioners in Tottenham 18/10/04

Conservative Action plan unveiled to tackle pensions crisis
Conservatives pledge to help Tottenham's current and future pensioners

A Government-commissioned report has forecast last week that 12 million
people face poverty in later life because they are not saving enough. The
report comes amid growing concern across Tottenham about pensioners' ability
to get by - especially in the context of soaring local taxes. Tottenham
Conservatives have backed a national action plan to tackle the growing
pensions crisis, including helping pension 'wind-up' victims.

William MacDougall, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Tottenham
and a professional pensions specialist, explained, "Pensioners have been let down by Labour. Their promises to help pensioners have been shown to be all talk. Pension schemes have been taxed to the hilt by a £5 billion a year tax, more and more pensioners are being forced to fill out insulting means-testing forms, and a third of the increase in the basic state pension since 1997 has been swallowed by higher council taxes
for pensioners in Haringey."

Outlining an Action Plan for pensions, MacDougall has pledged to restore the
link between pensions and earnings, help wind-up victims, and introduce new
incentives to save for retirement. The plan - part of Conservatives'
Timetable for Action - calls for:

1 - Restoring the link between pensions and earnings, which would increase
the pension for a single pensioner by £7 a week and for a pensioner couple
by £11 a week.
2 - Freeing people with private pensions from having to buy an annuity at
75.
3 - Ensuring there is funding to help wind-up victims: Tens of thousands of
people have paid into a company pension which they were told was safe, only to lose their savings when the company became insolvent.
4 - Introducing a Lifetime Savings Account on a 'buy one, get one free'
principle; savers' contributions would be rewarded with government
contributions.
5 - Introducing longevity bonds to reduce the risks that company pension
schemes face.
6 - Removing the cap on total pension contributions that people can make,
provided that all employees at a company are eligible to join the same
pension scheme.
7 - Allowing companies to promote their pension schemes, by relaxing the
Financial Services Authority regulations that restrict the financial advice
they can give.
8 - Encouraging company pension schemes to assume that employees want to join unless they opt out themselves - i.e. encouragement, but not
compulsion.

MacDougall added,

"People want less talk, more action. We must reverse the spread of means-testing, strengthen company pensions and provide better incentives for
saving for Tottenham's pensioners of today and tomorrow. We will give single
pensioners an extra £7 a week and couples an extra £11 a week. It is time to
restore dignity and security in retirement."

ENDS.