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Pensioners
feeling the pinch From
BBC news online September
22, 2003 Big council tax
increases this year have squeezed the incomes of many pensioners.
Evidence suggests many have found that above-inflation
increases in council tax, water bills, insurance costs and other expenses
are putting their incomes under increasing pressure. BBC News Online spoke to three pensioners about how they are
coping. Ron Day, 75, from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk
This year the government gave Ron and his wife Dorothy an
extra £3.70 a week. This brought their joint state pension to just over £175. Mr Day does not have an occupational pension, and Mrs Day, 72,
does part-time book keeping to make ends meet. Mr Day say: "We haven't had a holiday for five years. We
are living on the breadline every week. "We are struggling. We don't have the extras we used to
have. We used to entertain, for example. "Next year it's going to go up. I think it should be
stopped across the board, not just for pensioners - but for
everyone." Sylvia Hardy, 71, from Exeter in Devon. Sylvia Hardy, 71, is a retired social worker, who used to work
for Devon County Council and lives in Exeter. But she is now involved in a campaign against the council's
18% increase in council tax. Her council tax bill is now £644 a year - up from £544 in
2002. this year's rise in the basic state pension - and is willing
to risk going to jail over the issue. "I am prepared to go the whole way....I am prepared to go
to prison if that's what it takes," she says. Ms Hardy, who took early retirement, says that over the last
year she has really begun to "feel the pinch". But £3 of that increase was gobbled up by their council tax,
which increased by £150 this year. Their council tax bill last year was £748.16, but this year
they are paying £898.10. She says she will pay only 1.7% of this year's increase - the
equivalent to "I have already had to sell my car and take out equity
release on my own", she says. With her 40 year-old boiler now needing to be replaced, she
could soon be left with just £2,000 savings, she says. "We have got enough to exist on, but we don't have enough
money to have a social life. "I can only afford to go to the theatre once a year - I
used to love going to the theatre." "We feel very angry about it. We think we should be
treated better than this." Roy Barratt,72, County chairman of the Royal British Legion,
who lives near Penzance, Cornwall, says the situation is getting worse
Mr Barratt says he can easily manage his council tax increase
of 8.55%, but he says many retired service people are struggling. In his outreach work for the Royal British Legion, he says he
is increasingly coming into contact with people who are worried and can
not cope. According to his calculations, council tax and other household
expenses have risen by £5.52 a week over the last year. Other expenses such as water charges have also increased, with
an additional £30 being levied on houses in band C. "Where people are going to find the money to pay for this
is anyone's guess," he says. But he says that people are often reluctant to ask for help -
and many elderly could be suffering in silence. "In many cases they have just shut their minds to it.
They don't want to be seen not to be able to manage their own
affairs." One central problem, he says, is people do not have any spare
cash for when something goes wrong - or they need to make an ad hoc
payment. "There
is no margin to feel safe and secure."
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
Pensioners
are often reluctant to claim additional benefits and, with fixed incomes,
their living standards are very sensitive to small increases in the cost
of living.