This week it goes to the hugely smug Lord Bichard, who is a former benefits chief and now sits on a quango looking at demographic changes and their impact on public services.
He has said that "retired people should do community work or face losing part of their pension so as not to be a burden on the state."
Firstly, the noble Lord should know that Pensioners have paid in for
their pensions in good faith, having been told that National Insurance would
give them a good pension. People have contributed for their pensions and it is
their pension. It is not for the government to use as a carrot or a stick.
During good times, the government should have built up a pension reserve rather
than used pension funds for funding vanity projects like the millennium dome so
that state pensions were not the giant scheme they are now.
Lord Bichard
also needs reminding that community service is a judicial sanction judges can
give criminals. Is being a pensioner therefore, going to be a criminal act in
his brave new world?
In addition, it
appears that his lordship is setting a perfect example, as at the ripe old age
of 54 he retired from the Civil Service in May 2001 with a pension of £120,000
p.a.!
Lord Bichard
-
well deserving Prat of the Week!
A cross party peer has proposed forced labour for pensioners after warning that elderly people are a burden on society.Baron Bichard, who used to run the Benefits Agency, is a member of a committee investigating demographic changes and their impact on public services.
According to the BBC, the former public sector boss turned toff, admitted it would be difficult for politicians to sell to the public, but pointed out: “So were tuition fees.”
Baron Bichard was close to David Blunkett whilst the seeds of today’s brutal welfare reforms were being planned. As the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Employment the then Sir Michael Bichard even attempted to help David Blunkett cover up for his long standing affair with a civil servant. Bichard was well rewarded for his loyalty, being made a life peer in 2010.
Whilst Bichard has little influence in the current administration, his statement, which appears to be justified by current workfare schemes, is revealing:
“We are now prepared to say to people who are not looking for work, if you don’t look for work you don’t get benefits, so if you are old and you are not contributing in some way or another maybe there is some penalty attached to that.”
Whilst these plans are unlikely to see the light of day any time soon it is telling that a policy to work the elderly to death is even considered by an influential peer. If a man who used to have significant responsibility for the benefits system is happy to make these vile opinions known in public, then what is being discussed behind the scenes must be truly chilling.