State pensioners aged over 80 receive an extra allowance in their weekly payments, but the amount has been described as so small that even pensioners themselves are asking Andy Burnham to get rid of it.
On paper, the payment sounds reasonable. Those aged over 80 are almost certainly no longer working and often begin to need extra support with their health, mobility, or heating. However, the increase has been slammed as 'insulting' by those in receipt of it.
A 'breathtaking' 25p rise
The rise is a 25 pence extra per week. Over a year, that amounts to £13, or 3p per day. According to the article, that does not even cover an eighth of a single unit of electricity per day on the current Ofgem price cap.
Similar to the controversial £10 Christmas bonus, the 25p payment has never been adjusted for inflation since it was first introduced in 1971. At the time, pensions were £6 per week, so 25p represented a 4% boost. Today, the same 25p represents 0.13% of a basic state pensioner's £184.90 maximum payments.
Pensioners call for abolition
Responding to the Express's exclusive reporting on this issue, reader DavidOAP posted: "With such a ridiculously small amount that probably costs more to administer than the sum handed out, why not just bin it."
Another reader, @midster, added: "It's not the 25p payment that annoys me, that's diddly squat. It's the cost of the administration that's the joke."
Reader Timothy Pinner, who first contacted the Express about the issue, called it 'insulting'.
Government waste and future plans
The government has already said it has no plans to change it, and it is clear that it will phase out over time, as those who hit state pension age from 2016 onwards no longer qualify anyway. The article suggests that Burnham's government, much like governments before him, may not want to attract the headlines that scrapping any pension uplift would bring.
However, it is described as a great example of government waste. Even the letters sent out to pensioners to tell them they will get it will have cost more to post than the uplift is worth. The article argues that nobody needs it, nobody's life is being improved by it, and the government is almost certainly spending more money than it's worth to keep paying it out. It suggests scrapping the payment and throwing the freed-up budget towards an extra bit of support on Pension Credit or adult social care costs instead.
