Secretary of State's controversial comments on wealthy pensioners' benefits criticised by Age UK

UK charity Age UK has criticised the Secretary of State’s recent remarks about wealthier pensioners and their benefits, saying it fears less well-off pensioners will also feel obliged to hand them back.

Iain Duncan Smith said to The Sunday Telegraph he ‘would encourage’ wealthy older people to return benefits, such as heating allowances, free bus passes and television licences, back to the state.

Although he admitted that there are no plans to change the payments regime, he has previously described the two billion-a-year universal payments regime as an ‘anomaly’.

Speaking of wealthier pensioners and their choice to repay the money to the Treasury, Mr Duncan Smith said: “It is up to them, if they don’t want it, to hand it back. I would urge encourage everybody who reads the Telegraph and doesn’t need it, to hand it back.”

Age UK has responded to Mr Duncan Smith’s suggestion that wealthier older people should give back their benefits, saying the concessions for older people are very important and should remain a universal welfare.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK director of external affairs, said: “Winter fuel payment and the bus fare concession both make a real difference to many millions of older people in this country.

“It is open to anyone to decide not to make use of these benefits but when it's suggested that 'wealthier pensioners' should choose to forego them, our worry is that some who are badly in need of extra help will feel less inclined to take it.

“Older people on very low incomes sometimes minimise their own difficulties and refer to others they know who are worse off than they are.”

Prime Minister David Cameron pledged at the 2010 general election to protect the benefits for a whole Parliament until the next elections, and has not commented on Mr Duncan Smith’s idea, but senior Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have cast doubt on the idea of handing back the benefits, which has caused Mr Duncan Smith to comment further on his previous remarks.

Speaking to Radio 4 on Monday 29 April he said: “I am not encouraging people to hand it back or keep it…All I said in answer to a question, [is that] there's always been the position that if somebody wants to hand the money back if they don't use it, that's up to them. But I'm not making that a policy position; it's just there, it's always been available for them to do."

When asked whether he would give up his benefits, he said: "I'm not asking them to give up their allowances."

He added that he was proud of what the Government had done to help pensioners through the system that gives pensioners a winter fuel allowance of up to £300, over 60’s free prescriptions, and a free television license for pensioners over 75.

Mr Duncan Smith said: “I’ve no idea what we will put into the manifesto...I have no indication of change. It’s fair to say that [pensioners] are more vulnerable than others and we need to be very careful about what and when we do things, if we ever do.”