Youth and age: not a zero-sum game

A committee of the House of Lords, whose members receive at least £150 every day they sign in, wants to reduce benefits to old people.

The House of Lords Committee on Intergenerational Fairness has reported. The headline recommendations are  that the free television licence for over-75s and free bus passes should be withdrawn as part of redressing the balance between the generations, and that the triple-lock on pensions, which Liberal Democrats forced the Conservatives in coalition to accept, should be cut back.

I declare an interest in that I currently benefit from a free TV licence and the triple-lock on state pensions (which has given me a £3 per week increase in the current financial year). I also have an all-Wales bus pass, provided by a Welsh government which has been generally more enlightened than the one in England.

One must concede that television does not contribute to health and well-being. The free licence is the least defensible of our benefits. However, it is clear that the BBC's bloated executive structure, which has grown unchecked, can be drastically pruned with benefit to all licence-payers. There are alternatives (we should learn from continental nations) which spread the cost while maintaining a public service ethos.

The rationale of the triple-lock was that the state pension in the UK would gradually come into line with the higher rates generally paid in mainland Europe. We are still well behind, so cutting the automatic increase would be a set-back. I would also point out that pensioners spend more money locally than younger people do, so help to keep High Streets alive.

Staying alive is a major benefit of the free bus pass. As well as promoting physical activity by encouraging us to spend more time outside, it also maintains contact with family and friends, aiding psychological well-being.

But my major gripe with the recommendations is the impression that their lordships feel that the unfairness towards the young can be redressed by penalising the oldest generation. There are, to be sure, some vague proposals that training should be improved and that more land could be made available for housing. This is nothing new. We need something more positive.

The immediate need is for the national minimum wage to be a real living wage in line with calculations by an independent body, and that the age when the full rate can be earned reduced to a realistic 21 at the highest. The powers for local authorities to provide housing should be returned to early 1980s levels, as should their ability to borrow. And why should not free bus passes for young people not in employment, nor earning the full basic income, be a right?