We’ve joined the National Pensioners’ Convention

THE AMP has joined the wider pensioners’ movement by affiliating to the National Pensioners Convention, the campaigning voice of British pensioners.

AMP chairman Tom Brown explained: “Our primary concern – and the reason for the creation of the AMP – is to protect and monitor our Mirror pensions. But it seems time to ask whether we should be doing more to represent our members’ interests on a wider front.

“Almost every week brings a new announcement affecting pensioners. Increasingly, there are issues on pensions and benefits which are being raised by AMP members who want information, or for their worries to be made known.

“Joining the Convention will widen the AMP’s contacts at a time when we are likely to need support on moves affecting company pensions, and we can influence other pensioner issues that directly concern our members.”

With immediate effect Tom Brown will sit on the NPC’s executive committee and on its national council.

The NPC, now made up of over 1,000 bodies representing 1.5 million members, was founded in 1978 because there was no single organisation which represented and campaigned on behalf of pensioners. Although it initially received TUC help, the NPC has been re-formed as “an independent and separate entity run by pensioners for pensioners” whose objective is “to promote the welfare and interests of all pensioners, as a way of securing dignity, respect and financial security in retirement”.

It has signalled its major campaigning priorities in the coming months as “cross-generation defence of the welfare state and public services on which so many older people rely”, including:

Opposition to the proposed reform of state pensions and call for a state pension set above the official poverty level.

The defence of universal pensioner benefits such as the free bus pass and the winter fuel allowance to all pensioners.

Opposition to the proposed funding arrangements for social care and the promotion of an integrated National Health and Care Service, with a nationwide Dignity Code in all health and social care settings for all older people.

The NPC have welcomed the AMP’s affiliation. National officer Neil Duncan-Jordan said: “I am confident that the Association of Mirror Pensioners will find a good home in the NPC, and have no doubt that you will be a real asset to our efforts to protect Britain’s older generation.”

The Convention’s website is www.npcuk.org – AMP members on email can also sign up to receive a free monthly e-bulletin.

Sign up for a U-turn on “granny tax”

IF you’re reading this, you’re in exactly the right place to do something for yourself and your fellow-pensioners.

You are on-screen, so you can put your name to an e-petition to make the government think again on a mean move that will hit 65-year-olds and over.

The shocking plan to halt age-related tax allowances, which has been called the “granny tax”, is due to take effect from April. But if the online petition attracts 100,000 signatures, the plan would be sent back to Parliament for a re-think.

With a month to go – the petition closes on March 22 – there are already more than 92,000 signatures, and a late surge would force MPs to debate the much-criticised measure.

You can sign the e-petition on: https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

In last year’s Budget, the government announced that the amount of income that is not taxed will be frozen for those aged over 65, and those reaching 65 from April 6 2013, will no longer receive a larger personal allowance than people of working age.

Pensioner groups have registered “disgust” at Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to freeze the Age Related Tax Allowance at £10,500 for present retired taxpayers, and reduce it to £9,440 for all new retirees from 6th April 2013. They point out the hardest-hit pensioners will be those with modest savings, and estimate it will cost all tax-paying pensioners between £83 to £273 a year. At the same time, the top rate of tax for those earning £150,000 or more will be cut from 50p to 45p

The e-petition posted on the Government’s website states : “We consider that at a time when pensioners are struggling to make ends meet and yet are a group of people due to age, health etc who often have extremely limited opportunity to make good lost income, this reduction in allowances is grossly unfair.”

The official reply admits: “The Government accepts that many people will be disappointed by these decisions … The Government remains committed that personal allowances should be set high enough to ensure that those solely reliant on the Basic State Pension do not pay any tax … The Government has also continued to support pensioners in other ways.”

Geraldine Bedell, editor of the website Gransnet and one of the campaigners working to force the government into another tax U-turn, said: “What people are saying on our forums is that they feel that they’re a soft target, that this is a tax on prudence.”

Retail Price Index: good news

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has rejected proposed changes to the retail prices index (RPI). The alterations would have brought RPI more in line with the consumer prices index, which is the official level of UK inflation and targeted by the Bank of England when it sets interest rates.

The decision follows a two-year consultation on RPI, first calculated in 1947, which has fallen out of step with international standards. The method of averaging prices in the RPI has tended to keep the measure around 0.9 percentage points higher than the consumer prices index (CPI).

Any change would have had wide-ranging implications for a host of prices and interest rates that are pegged to the measure. RPI is used as the benchmark for index-linked corporate bonds and Government-issued gilts.

Changing it would have lowered returns on annuities, which are backed by gilts, as well as index-linked National Savings certificates, the returns on which rise with RPI. Some final salary pension payments are also linked to RPI. The proposed move had been described as a ‘stealth attack’ on retirement and savings incomes. Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga, said the decision not to alter RPI was ‘excellent news’.

‘To have radically changed the traditional inflation measure, on which many people’s incomes depend, could have jeopardised the inflation protection inherent in many people’s income arrangements,’ she said.

Retirees are already suffering historically low returns on their pension pots. Using the existing RPI measure, a 65-year-old man cashing in his £100,000 pension pot would get an annual income of around £3,665, rising to £6,560 when he is 85.

Had the ONS pressed ahead with the change, it would rise to just £5,500 a year in 20 years’ time, according to figures from Hargreaves Lansdown. Over the course of his 20-year retirement, this would add up to a difference of nearly £10,000.

Maintaining RPI will have some negative financial effects for individuals. Regulated rail fare rises are linked to the index and will continue to rise more quickly. Some regulated utilities are also based on RPI, such as water bills, as is duty rates on alcohol, tobacco, gambling and fuel.

Tom McPhail from Hargreaves Lansdown said: ‘This will be welcome news for all those dependent on pension benefits, who might otherwise have suffered a real terms drop of between 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent a year in their income.

‘It will probably come as a disappointment to employers sponsoring final salary schemes. A reduction in the rate of RPI would have reduced some pension scheme liabilities; this in turn would have reduced the amount of money which employers have to pump into these schemes to reduce their deficits.’

In order to address concerns that RPI is outdated, the ONS will introduce yet another inflation measure, RPIJ, which uses internationally recognised Jevons methodology to average prices, rather than the Carli index that RPI is based on. RPIJ should better reflect changes in prices on some items, for example clothing.

Should pensioners have their own inflation measure?

Pensioners have long complained that no inflation index fairly reflects rises in their cost of living. Older people tend to use a higher share of their income on heating and feeding themselves and, as such, have suffered disproportionately from energy and food price rises in recent years.

CPI and RPI include many things that have not risen in price as much, keeping those measures lower, but which pensioners rarely spend their money on. Pension incomes linked to either of these can therefore fail to reflect their additional costs.

Experts have called for the Government to use a specific pensioner’s inflation index to determine changes in pensioner income. The ONS already publishes a pensioners’ inflation index, but it is not linked to anything.

By Ed Monk (An edited version from Daily Mail, 10 January 2013)

New Patron: Lord McFall

The AMP is delighted to announce its new Patron in Parliament is Lord McFall of Alcluith. He succeeds the late Lord (Alf) Morris, who died last August.

As Labour MP for Dumbarton and West Dunbartonshire for 23 years, John McFall established himself as a powerful and pugnacious performer, particularly on financial matters.

During ten years as chair of the Treasury Select Committee, he held to account successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, as well as the Governor of the Bank of England and City bankers and financiers, earning himself the title ‘the champion of middle Britain’.

When he stood down at the 2010 general election, he was created a life peer and has become active on a broad front – from financial matters to children’s rights and overseas aid.

Lord McFall, 68, has shown his special concern for the protection of pensions in a time of growing economic hardship by chairing the Workplace Retirement Income Commission.

The Commission’s report for the National Association of Pension Funds warns of a ‘ticking time-bomb’ and the potential for a pensions crisis in the UK.

Recently, he joined in the successful campaign against proposed changes to the calculation of the retail prices index and its impact on pensions.

Lord McFall says: “I am looking forward to working with the Association of Mirror Pensioners in any way I can.”

Charlie Ley

Daily Mirror photographer Charlie Ley died on January 3 at the age of 87.

His funeral is on Thursday, January 17 at 1.30pm at Forest Park Crematorium, Forest Road, Hainault, Essex, IG6 3HP.

Flowers welcome, or donations please to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, UCLH Charity, 250 Euston Road, London NW1 2PG.

John Jenkinson

John Jenkinson, former Mirror Group Newspapers publicity director, died on New Year’s Day, aged 84.

You can read memories of JJ by long-time colleague and friend Peter Moeller by going to Farewell.

And on Roy Greenslade’s blog:http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/jan/04/daily-mirror-mark…

Happy New Year and beyond

The chairman, secretary and committee of the Association of Mirror Pensioners would like to wish all members and their families a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2013 and beyond.

Christmas message from Tom Brown, chairman, AMP

FROM the AMP to all our fellow pensioners – season’s greetings!

We hope you will all have a Happy Christmas and that you and your families will continue to be safe, secure and healthy in the New Year.

2013 may well be a testing time but there are also reasons for hope and optimism.  Pensions are under debate as never before, but there is also a growing recognition that existing pensions have to be protected, particularly for those on already-squeezed incomes.

As everyone knows, we have reason to be extra-vigilant where our pensions are concerned. That is why a vigorous and alert Association of Mirror Pensioners will continue to monitor, question and represent the interests of our members.

We are fortunate to receive recognition and co-operation from Trinity Mirror and the Trustee Board. Important issues we raised have been acknowledged to be reasonable and merit further attention and we will continue to work to resolve outstanding concerns.

It is worth mentioning that, on your behalf, I have written to thank the Pensions Office for once again making sure that the January pensions are being paid in good time for Christmas, something that is much appreciated, and to express our gratitude for what they do for us throughout the year.

A healthy company is always good news for pensioners and the steady surge in Trinity Mirror’s share price (now nearly four times what it was earlier in the year) shows some confidence in the new management and their development programme. We will watch their progress in 2013 with close interest.

At this time of year, especially, we remember the friends and colleagues we lost during the past year, and 2012 seemed to take a particularly heavy toll, not least among those who gave so unselfishly in founding the AMP and campaigning to have our pensions restored. We rely heavily on the talent and experience of those who remain and, with the addition of new strength from those newly-retired and those still to retire, we will continue to watch over and defend the interests of Mirror pensioners.

Funeral of Eric Newson

The funeral of AMP’s life president Eric Newson, who died last October, took place at Chelmsford Crematorium on November 12. There was a celebration of Eric’s life afterwards at Billericay Town Football Club.

For full details and obituary, please go to Farewell.