Former head of the Benefits Agency, Lord Bichard, has suggested that retired people should be encouraged to do community work such as caring for the ‘very old’ or face losing some of their pension. He went on to suggest older people were a ‘negative burden on the State’. (See main article: BBC News).
Slightly to the right of Genghis Kahn, Lord Bichard’s remarks are ill thought through. Many older people already work voluntarily. A lot of charities depend on them. To suggest that benefits should be lost for those that are not working in retirement seems to miss the fact that individuals have worked a lifetime for their pension and paid taxes for their benefits.
To suggest that older people are a ‘negative burden’ is ageist and extreme. I’m sure there are some who may not deserve the State benefits they enjoy but to target those in retirement is perverse and unworthy of a country that owes so much to the generations that have gone before us.
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