Darling's First Pre-Budget Report 'A Damp Squib For Older People', Says Help The Aged, UK

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 11 Oct 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's pre-budget report delivered today in the House of Commons, Help the Aged spokesperson Mervyn Kohler comments:

'The Comprehensive Spending Review was launched brightly with the promise, as one of its five cross-cutting themes, that it would reflect the challenges of an ageing population. Little seems to have survived of that spark of light.

'The evidence of failure in our social care system has grown remorselessly since the spending review commenced, but in the three year programme announced today, not enough has been promised to ensure decent care in older age for the poorest pensioners. On first glance, the settlement offered to local authorities will simply not be enough to ensure the gaps in social care funding can be properly filled.

'The announcement of further increases in NHS funding are to be welcomed: it is important that this should take account of the needs of older people who make up such a large proportion of health service patients. Help the Aged will be watching closely to ensure that the NHS improves the treatment and services older people receive. For example, the increased spending on health research must be used to ensure that the illnesses of older age receive the attention they deserve.

'Funding of Government priorities in this Comprehensive Spending Review and Pre-Budget Report is tight. There simply isn't enough in the Chancellor's statement to take account of the growing needs of an ageing population nor to tackle the fact that a fifth of pensioners currently live in poverty. The predicted increase in Pension Credit merely reinforces the regrettable reliance on means-tested benefits which shapes the lives of too many older people.'

1. Help the Aged is the charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation, neglect and ageism. It campaigns to raise public awareness of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy change. The Charity delivers a range of services: information and advice, home support and community living, including international development work. These are supported by its paid-for services and fundraising activities - which aim to increase funding in the future to respond to the growing unmet needs of disadvantaged older people. Help the Aged also funds vital research into the health issues and experiences of older people to improve the quality of later life.

2. Help the Aged urgently needs donations and support to help it in the increasingly challenging fight to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect.

Visit http://www.helptheaged.org.uk