PENSIONERS believe their lives are getting worse and that they suffer greater discrimination than ever.

That is according to a report, entitled One Voice, commissioned by the newly merged charity Age Concern and Help the Aged.

This found that the economic crisis is impacting on older people’s ability to make ends meet and to pay for basic amenities such as heating.

Around one in four (24 per cent) of the pensioners questioned said their quality of life had worsened in the past 12 months, while another 66 per cent said it had not improved at all.

Other complaints included being treated like children and feeling like they were low priorities for politicians.

Michelle Mitchell‚ charity director for Age Concern and Help The Aged, says 2009 was a year of uncertainty.

“Loneliness‚ depression‚ poverty and neglect blight the lives of millions of older people and for many‚ evidence shows the situation is getting worse‚ not better,” she says.

“Attitudes to older people are stuck in the past‚ the care and support system for older people is on the brink of collapse and older people’s experiences of isolation and exclusion have largely been ignored by successive governments.”

Sally Hutchinson, chief officer of Age Concern York, believes people are worried about pensions, investments and savings.

Those coming up to retirement might have to rethink their future years, while pensioners think about whether they can afford to run a car and the consequences, such as their mobility and the availability of public transport.

She can understand why older people might think life is getting harder, but says York partnerships work hard to ensure older people have a voice and are listened to.

“We all need something to look forward to. Something that helps us get through the year, whatever age they are,” she says.

“When you become old and isolated, it can seem you haven’t got that thing to look forward to that can get you through the difficult times and dark nights and cold months. I can quite understand some people might be saying their quality of life has deteriorated.”

Les Marsh, a York member of the Unite union’s Retired Members’ Association, says many of the complaints ring true.

“Pensioners have been dealt a bad deal by consecutive governments ever since Thatcher,” he says.

“The pension needs to be a substantial rate to take the living costs rise. The Government needs to recognise the pensioners of today need adequate to meet the costs of living, then to look at what figure would give a decent quality of life for pensioners to enjoy.”

Overall, the survey finds that 60 per cent of those asked believe age discrimination exists in every day life and in the workplace, while 53 per cent think people tend to be treated like children once they reached a very old age.

Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) do not think NHS staff always treat the elderly with dignity or respect, while an estimated 149,000 people have been readmitted to hospital within a month of discharge.

The study reveals that 76 per cent do not believe the country makes good use of the skills and talents of older people, and that one in three have avoided heating their bedroom, living room or bathroom to save money.

The survey also finds that 68 per cent of older people believe politicians see them as a low priority.

York MP Hugh Bayley hits back at that suggestion, pointing out that Labour’s improvements for pensioners include the introduction of pension credits, higher winter fuel allowances, free TV licences for over-75s, free prescriptions, free eye tests and tax free earnings of up to £140 a week.

“I’m not complacent about pensioners. I know there are still a lot of pensioners who find it difficult to make ends meet,” he says.

“Every year I lobby for them and have lobbied the Chancellor about this year’s budget.”

CASE STUDIES: How happy are York pensioners?

Jean Walker says she is pretty happy with life at the moment.

“I have a nice life because I have a nice family,” says the 63-year-old grandmother of three. “I’ve got a good marriage. I’m very happy.”

Jean, who lives in a council house in Swan Street, York, with her husband, Geoff, worked as a cashier and a cleaner until last year.

Now, she keeps busy co-ordinating the Nunnery Lane Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

Geoff has osteoarthritis, but they are otherwise in good health.

Surviving on their pensions is a struggle, says Jean – “I don’t think it’s ever enough” – so they shop around for food and petrol.

However, she would be happier if the council improved her house.

“What does annoy me is issues with the house,” says Jean.

“None of our windows are double glazed and I feel that’s where our fuel is going, out of the window.

“I’ve been told the properties are updated every 50 years, but I will be dead then. I feel fobbed off.”

But Jean says she has never experienced age discrimination – “I found it easy to get work, even in my fifties” – and remains positive about the future.

“I’m a strong woman, I’m happy with my life and I hope that won’t change if my health keeps up. Maybe if I get into my eighties it might be different, but getting older happens to us all.”



Life has certainly been harder for Joan Doig this year.

As well as being hospitalised for pneumonia and cataract operations, her worsening chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has made it harder for the 78-year-old widow to get out.

However, the retired cook values her independence in her bungalow in York and manages happily on her pension, despite rising prices.

“We were never rich but I always made my meat go a long way,” she says.

“I never waste anything, I don’t starve and I’m not cold. I pay my bills and I eat regular meals. I can’t say I’ve suffered with the pension, I seem to have enough.”

Mrs Doig, who has three daughters, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, does not heat her bedroom because of her respiratory problems. But she does warm the bathroom and the living room. “I don’t waste but I don’t scrimp,” she says.

She cannot go out by herself and often feels invisible when taken out in her wheelchair. “I speak up though, it doesn’t stop me talking,” she says.

The hardest thing is the two-mile trip to the Bishopthorpe post office to collect her pension.

“We can’t go to Micklegate because of the traffic and if I didn’t have a friend to take me I couldn’t go,” she says. “It makes you appreciate your local post office.”