Pensioners’ groups reacted with dismay today to Gordon Brown’s decision not to repeat last year’s £200 rebate on council tax for the elderly.

The Chancellor's statement was branded an "Ebeneezer Scrooge Budget" by Help the Aged, while Age Concern described it as "a terrible tenth Budget for today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners".

Mr Brown was accused of a pre-election bribe when he announced the one-off council tax rebate for over-65s' households in last year’s Budget, at a cost of £800 million. But hopes were high among pensioners that he would seek to disprove his critics by repeating his generosity this year - perhaps even making it a permanent feature of the unpopular tax.

Mr Brown did offer free national bus travel for pensioners, along with additional help insulating their homes. But Age Concern said that this was not enough to offset the failure to extend the council tax rebate.

The charity’s director-general, Gordon Lishman, said: "It beggars belief that the Chancellor has denied pensioners any extra help this year with their council tax bills, just as a new round of bills is set to cause anxiety for millions.

"Council tax is a huge financial burden for many pensioners who are living on a low, fixed income. We urgently need a fairer system of taxation in place of council tax, which is linked to people’s ability to pay."

Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, said: "It is a disgrace that the Chancellor served up this year’s Budget with no extra help for pensioners.

"Our country’s older people are already battered by fuel price rises and growing bills for council tax and water, but the Government which found a pre-election bribe for older pensioners last year cannot renew it for 2006. This exposes a shameful level of political expediency.

He added: "Handouts are not the answer to pensioner poverty, but they help. Structural reform and improvement of the state pension arrangements is desperately overdue, but in his wide-ranging Budget speech, which presented a vision for a successful Britain, the Chancellor found nothing to say at all on this urgent issue. By not re-investing the £3.8 billion in unclaimed means-tested benefits from poorer older people, Gordon Brown has presented an Ebeneezer Scrooge Budget that will do precious little to address the scar of pensioner poverty."

The chairman of the Local Government Association, Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart, said: "It will be with dismay that hard-pressed pensioners will look at the Chancellor’s failure to renew his commitment to the £200 council tax pensioner payment.

"Local authorities have done everything in their power to keep rises as low as possible but know that pensioners and low-income families face real difficulties in meeting their council tax bills on top of the rising bills for gas and electricity.

"However, despite these pressures, local authorities will continue to have a no-nonsense approach to those who fail to pay their council tax bills."

Mr Brown announced free national bus travel in England for every pensioner and disabled person, but said that it would be available only during off-peak hours and would not come into effect until 2008.

Mr Lishman said: "Introducing a national system of free bus travel will be very popular with pensioners and will help many to stay in touch with friends and family. But 2008 is too long to wait."

He added: "It is hugely worrying that the Chancellor failed to set out Government support for Lord Turner’s recommendations on pensions reform. A bold White Paper which addresses the needs of women, carers, low-paid workers and those without access to a second pension is desperately needed.

"At the heart of this, there should be a Basic State Pension of at least £114 per week which is available to all. The continuation of the Winter Fuel Payment and help with insulation are welcome, but more needs to be done to help older people meet the huge hikes in energy bills. Spiralling household costs are causing widespread anxiety."

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