Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Neuberger (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 26 February 2009.

Pensions and National Insurance

Question: My Lords, going to the other end of the spectrum and the very poor, the Government have introduced Saving Gateway accounts for working people. If they save, 50p is given by the Government towards it, so it is half and half—it is matched. Why does that not happen for older savers who are on means-tested benefits, such as pension credit? It seems as though the wealthy are doing rather better than the poor, and poor pensioners are doing worst of all.

Answer: My Lords, our approach to alleviating pensioner poverty, which was kick-started in 1997, was to concentrate on the poorest first via the pension credit system. That has produced significant improvements in the lot of pensioners overall. We are now spending £13 billion more on pensioners than we would have done if we had simply rolled forward the policies that we inherited. In 1997, the poorest pensioners lived on £69 a week. Now, with the uprating of the guarantee credit, the minimum for an individual is £130 a week and £198 for a couple. Significant progress has been made, but we need to continue to ensure that we build on that.

Secondary information