ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how older people organise themselves politically, and how do they campaign nationally and with what impact. It examines these issues by limiting our view of the pensioners' movement to strictly those organisations of senior citizens themselves as opposed to the broader social movement of all those who seek improvements in the social condition of older people. The leadership of the National Federation of Old Age Pensions Associations clearly thought of Beveridge as representing middle class interests against those of working people. In 1999-2000, the main pensioners' organisations were Pensioners' Voice, the British Pensioners' Trade Union Action Association (BPTUAA) and the National Pensioners' Convention (NPC). It is these and a number of smaller and more local organisations that constitute the narrowly defined pensioners' movement considered in this chapter. Retired leaders may have skills, strong reputations and connections, but they also have a natural time limit to their availability.
