Toggle high contrast
Issue date
Commenting on new figures published today (Friday) from the Office for National Statistics on the growth in the number of ‘very old’ people, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

Commenting on new figures published today (Friday) from the Office for National Statistics on the growth in the number of ‘very old’ people, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“It is good news that people are living longer, but the growth of the very elderly underlines the danger of the pension changes in the Budget.

“No-one can know how long they will live. What people need from a pension is a regular income in retirement that lasts as long as they live. The way to do this is to share risk between people.

“But the Chancellor is turning pensions into just another individual savings product. The worry is not so much that people will spend it all too quickly on luxury goods – though some will – but that just as many people will be too cautious to spend any of it.

“Annuities may well be broken, but the answer is not to end responsible collective risk sharing. Instead, we need to find new ways to make them work.

“The Chancellor’s talk of responsibility and choice comes straight from the 1980s – the decade that destroyed Britain’s pension system – and which we have spent the last decade trying to put right.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The ONS figures are available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mortality-ageing/estimates-of-the-very-old--including-centenarians-/2002---2012--united-kingdom/index.html

- The TUC is organising Fair Pay Fortnight from Monday 24 March to Sunday 6 April. It will be a series of events across England and Wales to raise awareness about falling living standards. www.fairpayfortnight.org

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen   T: 020 7467 1248    M: 07778 158175    E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth    T: 020 7467 1372    M: 07717 531150     E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

To access the admin area, you will need to setup two-factor authentication (TFA).

Setup now