News from Labour Matters

The State Pension is 100 years old (and it’s worth a lot more now)

Eastcliff Matters celebrates the century of the State Pension:

“One hundred years ago today the first pensioners went to the Post Office to collect a State Pension of 5 shillings a week. In 1909 half a million people over 70 got a pension. Now they number over 12 million, with more than 700,000 people reaching State Pension age in 2009 alone.

Today the Basic State Pension is worth around four times more than the amount received in 1909. Help with fuel, Council Tax and rent plus the one-off payment of £60 on top of the regular £10 Christmas payment bonus boosts it further.

Around 12,000 people in the UK will share their 100th birthday with the State Pension this year and by 2050 we can expect 250,000 new centenarians each year – that’s a lot of telegrams!”

Read the full article.

Other news from Labour Matters

• Southampton Labour release alternative 'Budget for Fairness' - 6 February 2012
• "Bleak unemployment figures are bad news" says John Denham - 12 October 2011
• Westminster Council to cut Taxicard budget by £500,000 a year - 11 August 2011