IT'S good to read a letter from a councillor who is interested in the people he represents "Charges blow to the elderly" (Advertiser, April 4).
I would also add to Councillor Wareing's comments the fact that, in many cases, people who have invested in a private or occupational pension are penalised on retirement.
For instance, widows generally receive 50% of their husband's private or occupational pension, let's say £40. Because of this extra income, she has to pay full - say £40 - rent for her council property, £10 council tax and £6 income tax, a total of £56.
She is therefore £16 worse off than a widow whose husband (for whatever reason) was unable to provide an extra pension and therefore receives the concessions (and rightly so) of free rent and council tax, plus all the advantages of income support.
Obviously, in many cases, it would have been better to have spent the pension fund contributions instead of trying to provide for the future, because they have wasted their money.
S Turner
Alveston Road
Hollywood
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