by Keith Richmond
THE TUC has urged the Government to mark the centenary of the state pension by restoring the link between pensions and earnings so pensioners receive a rise even when inflation is close to zero.
The Government has promised to restore the link with earnings – abolished by Margaret Thatcher in 1980 – but not until 2012. At present, pensions go up in April in line with the retail price index.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “As we celebrate the 100th birthday of the first ever state pension – a crucial marker of any civilised society – what better way to celebrate than by restoring the link to earnings?
“Ministers deserve praise for changing the law to allow this to happen in 2012. But they should bring forward the date which was set well before the credit crunch turned the world upside down.”
Representatives of 14 trade unions met in Southwark in 1898 and their fight for the provision of pensions by the state paid off when David Lloyd George introduced the Old Age Pensions Act in 1908.
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