Falling pensions payouts force old folk into poverty
PENSIONERS are increasingly falling into poverty as their income from pension schemes collapses.
Official statistics obtained by the Tories revealed that payouts from occupational pensions are falling, dropping back to the same level as four years ago.
At the same time the number of retired people in acute poverty is increasing.
Britain’s poorest pensioners are seeing their incomes falling by up to four per cent a year, costing them on average more than £250 annually.
The Tories released the figures yesterday at the start of a campaign to highlight the “small print” behind many of Gordon Brown’s initiatives.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling said: “These figures show the harsh reality for many pensioners under Gordon Brown’s pensions disaster.
“The Prime Minister keeps telling us that he’s doing a great job for pensioners, but the reality is a million miles from that.
“Pensioners should always remember to look at the small print in any promise from Mr Brown.
“Mr Brown’s pensions crisis is clearly now biting, with more and more people facing a fall in retirement income – and more and more pensioners, particularly elderly widows and widowers are clearly struggling to get by.”
Figures released to Mr Grayling in a Commons written answer showed that a single pensioner could expect £99 a week from the average occupational scheme in the financial year 2005-06.
During the same period, a pensioner couple could expect £192.
Yet in the financial year 2003-04, the equivalent sums were £93 and £193, despite a significantly lower cost of living.
Other figures showed that in the year 2005-06 460,000 pensioners were below the poverty line – that is a household with less than 40 per cent of the national average income.
The figure was 10,000 higher than in the previous 12 months.
And the poorest couples saw their incomes rise in 2005-06 by around 1.5 per cent, which again is below the inflation rate.
Meanwhile, living costs for pensioners are rising faster than the national average.
Research by the Prudential showed pensioners’ annual expenditure has increased by 9 per cent and for those over 75 by 10 per cent, as opposed to the national average of 4 per cent since Labour came to power in 1997.
But the Government denies giving pensioners a raw deal.
A Department of Work and Pensions spokesman claimed their net incomes have been rising faster than average earnings, although he conceded council tax had eroded spending power.
