Age Concern calls for changes to savings rules

Age Concern has called for the Government to change the rules concerning savings and pension payments.

Currently, as the BBC reports, a pensioner will lose £1 per week from their pension credit for every £500 of savings they have over £6,000.

‘The first £6,000 is ignored,’ the BBC website states, ‘but £6,001 is assumed to be equivalent to £1 a week of income and each £500 above that adds another £1 to the tariff income – a rate of return of 10.4%.’

“The £6,000 capital limit hasn’t changed since 2001 and should be increased,” said Sally West, Age Concern’s Policy Manager. “It would also be much fairer to count, for example, £1 a week income for every £1,000 over the limit.”

A debt management expert for Gregory Pennington commented: “Savings play a vital role in money management. Having some money in the bank can make all the difference when someone is confronted with an unexpected expense.

“Someone with savings is simply less likely to run into financial problems when something goes wrong – they’re far less likely to get into debt the moment their roof needs to be fixed, for example, or their boiler breaks down.”

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