Poorest pensioners receive least government support

For the poorest 20 per cent of single pensioners who received annual benefits – including pension credit and the state pension – of £7,644, the state benefit amounted to 86 per cent of their total income compared with other sources such as a private pension, occupational pension income, investment income or earnings income, according to an analysis by Just Group.

The company analysed data from the Department for Work and Pensions’ pensioner income series between 2015 to 2018, and found that retirees in the top quintile received £10,244, or £2,600 more than the poorest pensioners, despite their annual income from other sources being £25,000 higher. 

The state pension forms the bedrock of retirement finances for the majority of pensioners and these figures reveal just how much the poorest rely on it

Stephen Lowe, Just Group

The second-richest quintile received the most state support, an extra £4,000 in state benefit, or 53 per cent more each year than those with the smallest incomes.  

While state benefits are crucial for lower-income pensioners, and the figures reveal it accounts for nearly 90p of every £1 they have to spend, it only makes up 30 per cent of the top quintile’s income.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, said the figures demonstrate just how reliant the poorest pensioners are on the state pension, despite its insufficient allowance.

He said: “The state pension forms the bedrock of retirement finances for the majority of pensioners, and these figures reveal just how much the poorest rely on it, as well as other benefits ranging from pension credit to the winter fuel allowance.

“Millions of pensioners are dependent on this state support, but still their income falls some way short of the Joseph Rowntree’s minimum income standard of £10,452 a year for a single pensioner.”