ANGRY senior citizens staged a demonstration outside Southampton Labour Party's headquarters to demand an increase in the basic state pension.

The small but determined crowd's protest was planned to coincide with the government's introduction of a new "pension credit" scheme yesterday.

They were demanding that the state pension should be increased to £102 for a single person and £155 for a married couple. They are also asking for the link between average earnings and the state pension to be re-introduced.

The government claims that its new credit scheme will boost pensioners' incomes but protesters say that many will not claim the extra money as it is means tested.

Don Harper, 64, of the Wessex Pensioners' Convention, said: "The basic problem with it is that it is means tested. You have to tell an official that you are poor.

"Also, in order to fill in the form, you have to be on the phone for 20 minutes. For many elderly people, that is too long.

"Even by the government's own figures, they say they will only have 76 per cent of people eligible to claim the credit actually being paid by 2006.

"That leaves a lot of people. Many will also not bother to apply because they are too proud."

He was backed by Betty Shiers, of Cawte Road, Freemantle.

She said: "The whole problem of means testing is that a lot of people don't pick it up. I was born in the 1920s and I can remember means testing. That is why I disagree with the Labour Party."

Jill Starks, 64, chairman of the Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance in Southampton, added: "When you are a day off your retirement age the government says you need a minimum wage of £4.50 but on your 60th birthday if you are a woman or 65th if you are a man the government says you can live on the equivalent of £2.20 an hour."

Pensions minister Malcolm Wicks insisted the government had made the process of applying for pension credit as simple and straightforward as possible.

He said: "Pensioners do not have to worry about filling out complicated forms or answering intrusive questions. Instead, they can phone our freephone number and our trained staff will take them through the whole process in about 20 minutes.

"Our advertising campaign has been targeted to reach as many pensioners as possible. I want to see 100 per cent take-up and I would urge sons, daughters and grandchildren to tell anyone you know who might be entitled to make a claim."