- guardian.co.uk, Thursday November 9 2000 02.14 GMT
"In one word, it's a load of rubbish," said Gordon Atherton, 68, a retired sales representative from Marple. "The system is getting more and more complicated and hard to understand. Some pensioners have to apply to all sorts of schemes to survive. The pensioners credit system is another complex way of pulling the wool over our eyes."
Mr Atherton's wife, Sheila, 71, said: "If they spend so much to educate us, why do they treat us like fools?"
The Athertons, above, draw £525 state pension a month and have to supplement this with two private pensions and savings.
The state pension covers their house bills, tax and food but it does not allow them to buy more than essential clothes or pay for house repairs. If their savings income is now less than £130 a week Mr Brown will allow them some relief.
Mr Atherton says he has spent his whole life saving for old age and any income relief is welcome. But he adds many pensioners are forced to draw private incomes of more than that and may still continue to subsidise state pensions from their own pockets.
"A £5 increase is better than 75p but we have to ask ourselves what the conditions are. The winter fuel allowance increase is eyewash to fool us. The fuel allowance is the same for singles and couples. I would rather see the money added to the basic pensions than get a perk which is a bit like just offering somebody a box of chocolates. If anyone in this room full of pensioners votes for this government they need their head seeing to."
The Atherton's have brought their own refreshments to the dance.
Edith Alexander, 77, who lives alone on a state pension plus her own savings said £5 would do to start and income relief was welcome. "Now the chancellor should cut petrol costs, road tax and water rates for pensioners. Seventy-five pence was an insult and he still has a way to go to undo that."
Bernard Maxwell, 76, a former street lighting worker for Stockport council, said he and his wife fell into a category of pensioners with good private pensions who are able to maintain what he calls a normal lifestyle. They spend seven months a year in a caravan in Anglesey and travel to Portugal twice a year. "We are very happy with the winter fuel increase and we are very happy with our television licence. Any relief on income is welcome but we are not destitute and so don't fit into the category that would get large amounts of relief. We will still have to pay our own way. We could not do this with perks like alcohol or bingo, so we have to constantly watch what we spend."
