AGE Calls on Member States to Guarantee a Minimum Pension to Prevent Poverty Among the Most Vulnerable Older People

www.age-platform.org

October 16, 2009

European Union

The vulnerability of older people is often related to their lack of financial resources. Older women are in a particularly precarious position as their right to a pension income is often derived from their marital status (spousal or survivor benefits) and they rarely have adequate pension rights of their own for diverse reasons (career breaks, low paid jobs). Other groups of older people, such as older single persons, older migrants or disabled older people also face multiple disadvantages in building adequate old-age income. For all such vulnerable older people, suitable social protection provided through the state is necessary as a safety net.

In an Open letter addressed to the EU Ministers of Employment, Social Affairs and Health, AGE questions the view that a minimum income in old age is a disincentive for employment, since the choices people have about employment are limited by a range of other factors, including job unavailability, family duties, mobility problems, age discrimination, or lack of training or inadequate skills. “These different factors often prevent older people from getting a job or remaining active in the labour market. This is why minimum pension provision is a necessary safety net to protect the most vulnerable older people and as such does not distort employment activation policy”, says Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Director. 

Equally important, when pensions are not fully indexed to general wage rises, poverty in old age increases even further, leaving pensioners fall behind society’s progress as they grow older. Many who retired with an adequate pension then slip gradually into the pension poverty trap, with an income close to the threshold for means testing. AGE believes the right to an adequate minimum income, without means testing, is fundamental to everyone’s dignity and independence.

AGE calls upon Member States, when designing the minimum pension schemes, to ensure that the provided old-age income addresses older people’s needs and expectations in terms of what they consider being essential to preserve decent standards of living and personal dignity.

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