A GOVERNMENT which raised the basic pension by just 75p a week will find it difficult to claim it is doing its best to help the elderly.

Social Security Minister Jeff Rooker's admission that the minimum income guarantee was not enough to live on makes justification for such a paltry rise even more difficult.

We fully understand that Britain must face up to the reality of supporting a growing number of retired people from finite resources.

It is a harsh reality that, as we live longer, the public purse cannot meet the cradle-to-grave support envisaged by the founders of the Welfare State.

That is why this Government is wise to explore other options for pension provision, and encourage today's working generations to make their own arrangements for their retirement.

But it will take until the middle of this century before such policies come to fruition.

Such long-term planning is no comfort to those many thousands among today's pensioners who are struggling in the short-term to make ends meet. This is the generation brought up in the expectation that all their needs in retirement would be provided for.

It is apparent the Government's aim is to hold down the basic pension, ensuring that the well-off do not get the same support as the poorest.

But such a system relies on pensioners themselves applying for top-up benefits to bring their income above the minimum level determined by the Government.

Sadly, they can not be relied upon to come forward.

Latest figures suggest that 500,000 pensioners, either through ignorance or pride, are missing out on benefits to which they are entitled.

An expensive advertising campaign has failed to make inroads into the problem.

The Government has to go about devising a system which guarantees support reaching those entitled to it, without having to endure the stigma of the means test.

Until such a framework is in place the basic pension must be maintained at a sufficient level on which the elderly can live.

Such a universal benefit may go against the grain of a Government keen to target help only to those who need it.

But if it is looking for a precedent, it should look no further than its child benefit system, which guarantees a millionaire mother the same money as a single unemployed mum.