Oliver Heald, MP for North East Herts, has grilled the Minister for Pensions Reform over the dramatic eight-fold increase in pensioner bankruptcies. In the House of Commons yesterday, Oliver attacked the Prime Minister’s record:
Oliver asked, “Why has the number of pensioners going bankrupt gone up from 900 five years ago to 7,900 this year? Is not one of the reasons why those most in need of help are not getting it through the pension credit-as we warned at the time of its introduction-the fact that it is an over-complex system introduced by a Chancellor who is now the Prime Minister and is still getting it wrong?”
The Minister for the Pensions Reform, Mr O’Brien, replied with this limp statement, “Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people in this country, and many in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, are in receipt of pension credits”
Speaking after the debate, Oliver commented, “I am shocked at the government’s complacency in the face of rocketing pensioner bankruptcies. It is time the government simplified Gordon brown’s over complicated benefits system so that pensioners get the help they are entitled to.