Elderly sick with worry about money

According to a new annual report from the UK, poverty and loneliness are endemic among pensioners and 1 in every 4 are so worried about the future that it is making them ill.

The Spotlight report by the charity Help the Aged says in 2005-06, 1.2 million pensioners were living in severe poverty and another 2.2 million people were classified as living in poverty.

To make matters worse the report says rising fuel prices now means an additional 200,000 pensioners are now suffering fuel poverty, with 1.5 million now spending at least 10% of their income on fuel just to keep warm.

Help the Aged claims government promises to end fuel poverty by 2010, have been reneged on because by that date there will still be 1.2 million struggling to afford to heat their homes.

The depressing report indicates that life is worsening in many respects for pensioners in Britain and Paul Cann, director of policy and external relations for the charity says it is appalling that older people feel sick with worry about the future.

Key facts revealed are that 21 per cent of pensioners survive below the poverty line and 15 per cent of pensioners are living in persistent poverty; 2.8 million people feel that health professionals tend to treat older people as a nuisance and they are not accorded any dignity; around one million older people in the UK are lonely and one in ten over 75 find it very difficult to get to their local corner shop.

The Charity's 'Just Equal Treatment' campaign has highlighted the rampant age discrimination faced by older people, and has called for a complete ban on age discrimination and a new duty on public bodies to promote age equality.

With more people not receiving the help they need to get out of the house and many saying they are not treated with dignity in hospital - which has prompted a government campaign to improve matters - Mr Cann says the government has an enormous job to do to improve the lives of older people.

Help the Aged is calling for a complete ban on age discrimination, mandatory retirement ages in employment to be outlawed, a strategy to reduce pensioner poverty, a system of automatic payments of benefits for older people, the eradication of fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and a commitment to a new, transparent, universal method of delivering social care to an ageing population.