Liberal Democrats show Labour Government failing to help the poorest pensioners in Edinburgh North & Leith

5.30.22pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 21st Jul 2008

Liberal Democrat Kevin Lang believes the Labour Government should be doing more to help struggling pensioners

New figures from the Department for Work & Pensions, uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, have shown that the Government withheld more than £20 billion from struggling pensioners in unclaimed pension credit and housing benefit since 1997.

The figures show:

· Labour has saved over £20bn in benefits that have not been paid to the poorest pensioners in the UK

· Last year 1.8m pensioners missed out on an average of over £1,500 each in pension credit

· 350,000 missed out on up to £2,200 each in housing benefit

Local Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Edinburgh North & Leith, Kevin Lang said,

"These figures show that Labour's policy of forcing the poorest pensioners to claim means tested benefits simply is not working. £20 billion that should be in pensioners' pockets has instead remained with the Labour Government, leaving thousands of pensioners in Edinburgh North & Leith without the money the deserve.

"If some of that cash had been spent on letting pensioners know what was rightfully theirs, we might not have millions of pensioners living below the bread line.

"The Government must now increase the basic state pension and immediately restore the link between pensions and earnings. After a lifetime of contributing to society, pensioners in Edinburgh North & Leith and across the UK deserve nothing less."