Brief Report From the 2011 Blackpool Pensioners Parliament

The 2011 Blackpool Pensioners Parliament was held in the Winter Gardens from June 14th to 16th it was very well organised by the National pensioners Convention, and included some of the following speakers on the Tuesday Afternoon after the March from the Tower to the Winter Gardens. Dot Gibson NPC General Secretary, Richard Murphy Founder of the Tax Justice Network, Karen Jennings Assistant General Secretary UNISON, Billy Hayes General Secretary CWU, and Professsor Alan Walker, patron, NPC. The main sessons of the Parliament was held in the Theatre and was a great improvement on previous years when they were held in the ball room. There were many interesting and important discussions held over the three days, but we will concentrate here on only two of them.

Steve Webb, the Pensions Minister: -  attended the Parliament on Wednesday and was given a warm reception, he made some of the following points: a) I have been in the Job just over a year and dialogue is the best way forward b) Many thousands of women were losing out because of child bearing and looking after relatives, but will now qualify for a full pension after 30 years, this will make a real difference to them c) We needed more pension and less administration d) Fuel allowance will be £50 lower for the under 80's (at £200) and £100 less this year for the over 80's (at £300), this was what the last Labour Government planned to pay in 2011 e) Cold weather payments of £400 in 2010 will not be cut f) This winter many pensioners will receive £120 credit through the extension of the previous Governments scheme g) In 2010 many people had their pensions frozen because RPI was falling h) People who now want to carry on working after 65 cannot be sacked i) We are changing peoples attitude towards older people. Many good questions were put to the Minister, in particular on raising the pension age, the change from RPI to CBI, and on many other issues, he certainly showed a willingness to answer questions and to assure us that he supported the views of the NPC on some issues. However it has to be said that he failed to convince us that his medicine was good for us.

Care in the Community - One of the issues passionately raised in this debate was the crisis that has arisen at the Southern Cross care homes, its an issue that causes much concern about the future of elederly people who reside in private care homes. The present saga as it is playing out in the city is about much more than a company having financial difficulties. Southern Cross is the largest provider of care homes (750) for the elderly in the UK, employing in excess of 31,000 people. It is seeking assistance from landlords and financial backers to help it in its hour of need. In a desperate bid to save money it has now announced that it is making 3000 peole redundant. This action will almost certainly lead to the closure of hundreds of care homes, what will happen to the elderly? many of whom are very frail and vunerable. The situation is complicated due to the government spending cuts which has resulted in the sale or closure of many local authority care homes for the elderly, private landlords are also suffering from lower income and some of them are closing. The situation is steadily getting worse as private care home landlords are hiring untrained staff on the minimum wage, no training is given to these recruits, thus they are unable to look after their charges properly, or treat them with respect, thus leaving them their diginity. For further information on this subject visit the Mature Times web site.