Don't penalise savings

The political parties' pension proposals do not take account of the unjust erosion of pensioners' savings

Of the 2.2 million pensioners currently living in poverty, about two-thirds are women. The reasons for this are historical - more women take career breaks to care for families, and more women work part time and therefore earn relatively small amounts. Also, many women depend on their husbands for their income in retirement, but because almost half of marriages end in divorce and women tend to live longer than men, this is not a viable position. The Liberal Democrats are promising to introduce a Citizen's Pension that will increase annually in line with earnings. Entitlement will be based o...