According to Department of Work and Pensions data, pensioner poverty has climbed in the last year. The number of pensioners in poverty has climbed for the first time since 1998, the figures show.
Up by 300,000 to around 2.5 million, the figures display the failings of the system to look after the elderly with pension schemes . The increase exceeds that predicted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The IFS expressed surprise about the figure, particularly due to pension credit guarantees that increase with average earnings.
A special adviser for Help The Aged, Mervyn Kohler, was reported as commenting: "The government should be mortified by the latest rise in pensioner poverty: in a twelve-month period, an additional 300,000 pensioners have been forced into poverty. On average that's around 822 pensioners each day. When older people live on a fixed income it is virtually impossible for them to pull themselves out of poverty. Pensioners often have to cut back on essential household items, just to survive. This is a disgrace. The government must take responsibility for the inequality so many older people face. Instead, each year the Treasury sits on more than £5bn of unclaimed benefits which should go to older people. While this figure may make the chancellor rub his hands together with glee, this daylight robbery of older people must not be allowed to continue."
More pensioners face poverty
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More pensioners face poverty
Wed, 11 Jun 2008
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