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RETIREMENT

OAPS STRUGGLING ON £6,000 A YEAR

Many pensioners are living on less than £6,000 a year

Wednesday April 16,2008

By Louise Barnett

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MILLIONS of pensioners are struggling to survive on less than £6,000 a year, official figures show.

Pensioner groups last night criticised the Government for failing to guarantee a decent income for the UK's elderly.

Nearly two thirds of OAP couples live on a total pension income of less than £10,000 per year, Office for National Statistics figures for 2005-06 show. Half of all single pensioners scrape by on less than £6,000 per year.

Single women are most likely to suffer low incomes, with 1.38million living on less than £6,000 annual pension. That compares to 713,000 couples and 461,000 single men with annual pensions of £6,000 or less.

Some elderly people are forced to choose between heating and buying food, according to Help the Aged.

National Pensioners Convention (NPC) general secretary Joe Harris said: "It is a national scandal. The country can afford to give all older people a decent pension of at least £135 a week that goes up each year in line with wages."

Couples get an annual average of £7,296 state pension and benefits, according to the figures. For single men this is just £5,259 and £5,496 for women.

Around two thirds of OAPs get some money from a private pension. But this amounts to less than £1,000 per year for over half of single pensioners, the Pension Trends report warns.

The report also suggests that many of today's workers are failing to prepare financially for retirement.

Age Concern chief Gordon Lishman said: "People expecting to live the good life in retirement may be shocked. As the credit crunch bites, people are more worried about making ends meet today than getting a pension tomorrow."