POVERTY AMONGST WOMEN PENSIONERS

That this House regrets that the number of pensioners living in poverty, the majority of whom are women, has barely altered since 1997; notes that the increase in National Insurance contributions in April 2003 had a particularly severe impact on married women who pay reduced National Insurance contributions, but has not increased their state pension entitlement; further notes that the pension credit provides less support to people with incomplete National Insurance records, who are mainly women, than to people with a full entitlement to the state pension; is concerned that less than a third of stakeholder pension sales have been to women and that the removal of the dividend tax credit has made it harder for women to save for their retirement; believes that the Government's extension of means-testing cannot have a significant impact on poverty amongst women pensioners whilst take-up remains so low; is dismayed at the lack of proposals to help female pensioners in the 2002 pensions Green Paper; believes that recent parliamentary initiatives, including Private Members' Bills on annuities and winding-up have shown how the incomes of women pensioners might be improved; notes that increasing the basic state pension in line with earnings would provide real improvements to the income of female pensioners; and calls on Ministers to consider the plight of poorer female pensioners when considering further reforms to either state or private pensions.