The New Year has also brought good news to thousands of people who missed out on the provisions of the Pensions Protection Fund because their employers went bust before it came into force. Despite paying contributions throughout their working lives they lost all the company pensions to which they were entitled. Finally, after years of procrastination, the government has agreed to pay them 90% of what they should have been receiving.
2008 marks the centenary of the Old Age Pensions Act. Passed in 1908 it provided the elderly with a pension of 20p a week. In its day it was a milestone in social progress. This year the National Pensioners Convention chose the first day of the year to launch a campaign for a £40 rise in the £134 basic State pension, an increase we would all welcome.
To support their claim they point out that two million pensioners are living below the poverty level. In all our contacts with Unilever, as we campaign for an increase in the pensions we receive from the company as soon as conditions permit, we persistently make the point that we are getting poorer all the time because of the rising costs that pensioners experience and this statistic confirms that point.
More immediately, we are pressing the company to make a discretionary increase for our colleagues who had long service and retired many years ago on pensions that are low by today’s standards. The last such payment was eleven years ago and since then rising prices have been causing them considerable hardship. The company is considering the matter and we are waiting for their decision.
