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George Hollingbery
Fighting for
Meon Valley
I believe that Britain needs change, not more of the same.
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Welfare and Pensions
Our welfare policy paper sets out a radical programme of reform that will provide ladders of opportunity for millions of British people. It will be the biggest shake-up of the welfare state for 60 years:
- Every claimant potentially able to work will be engaged in welfare to work activities aimed at helping them back into work as quickly as possible
- For those unable to find work there'll be long-term community projects to help them get back into a working environment
- Those not willing to take part will face tough sanctions
Our welfare programme will be delivered by private and voluntary providers, who will only be paid when someone gets and keeps a job.
Combined with our commitment to end the couple penalty in the tax credits system, our radical welfare plans will help lift almost half a million children out of poverty.
Pensions
We need to reinvigorate a culture of savings in Britain. We will raise the basic state pension in line with earnings to help stop the spread of the means test. At the same time, we will look at how we can simplify the rules and regulations around pensions to encourage companies to offer high quality pension provision to all employees.
We have called for emergency pension protection in the light of the troubles in the financial markets, but Labour have so far refused to act. We want the rules which force people to lock themselves into long-term pension arrangements, either on their retirement date or their 75th birthday, to be suspended until the current turmoil has receded.
We are calling on the Government, in the 2009 Budget, to help the millions of pensioners who have suffered from a decade of Gordon Brown's tax raids by raising the tax allowance for pensioners by £2,000 to £11,490.
Supporting Older People
As well as recognising the contributions older people make to society, we also need to help those elderly people who are amongst the most vulnerable in our society.
So a Conservative Government will look at ways of creating more personalisation in health and social care, and more patient power.
In addition, we want to see much greater use of direct payments and individual budgets, which give people real control over their care. |
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