Return to Rationing

The Royal British Legion have joined forces with the national older persons’ charity Age Concern and in September 2008, launched a campaign aimed at increasing the incomes of older people living in poverty.

There has been enormous support from the public and on 25 February 2009, a campaign petition, with some 25,000 signatures, was handed in to Number 10 by The Royal British Legion's National President, General Sir John Kiszely. We used the hand-in to call for the Government to commit now to rebranding Council Tax Benefit as a rebate by the next general election.

Thanks to your support the legislation has now been passed to  to ensure that the Government will make this important change.

The Legion is doing its bit to ensure that poverty among older veterans is tackled through its 'manifesto' for the next general election. Find out how you can do your bit.

Write to your MP

Please help us secure a Government commitment to a timetable for making this important change by sending a letter to your MP. We have drafted a letter which you can download here.

After you've filled in your MP's name, and your contact details, you could send this off to them. You need to add your details so that your MP can reply, and also so that he/she is sure you are his/her constituent. (If Parliament is on recess you can still write to the House of Commons – your letter will be forwarded on to the MP's office.)

Why we are running this campaign

We are campaigning to increase the incomes of older people living in poverty.

38% of ex-Service pensioners report an income below the minimum required for healthy living.

Many have been forced, through poverty, to ration everyday essentials, similar to their experiences during and after the Second World War.

The Royal British Legion and Age Concern are campaigning to increase the incomes of older people living in poverty. Legion research has shown that a significant number of older members of the ex-Service community live on low or very low incomes. The Minimum Income for Healthy Living is £7,072 per annum for a single person and £11,200 for a couple. A recent Ipsos MORI survey on behalf of the Legion found that 38% of veterans, their spouses and/or widow(er)s reported an income below these levels. 

Background information

One of the major focuses of our campaign is the call for Government to rebrand Council Tax Benefit as a 'rebate' and is detailed in our Campaign Briefing.

For a summary of the Return to Rationing? campaign as a whole, please read our original Campaign Summary.

And the full details of the campaign are available in our Return to Rationing? Policy Statement.