INSURANCENET.INFO

Around two million pensioners are living in poverty, with half of these also living alone in fuel poverty, official figures have revealed.

However, the Office for National Statistics said the overall total of over-60s in poverty has fallen by nearly a third from 2.9 million 11 years ago to two million in 2007/08.

The ONS data also showed that the difference in household incomes during the past 30 years has become more unequal, but this difference was lower for pensioners than for people who were not retired.

It further revealed that over-60s are not as reliant on the state pension as they were in 1977. During that time, the provision accounted for 53% of a retired person’s income, with 18% coming from company pensions and annuities.

But by 2007/08, the latest period for which figures are available, the state pension made up only 37% of the money pensioners had coming in, with occupational pensions and annuities accounting for 36%.

Just over 10% of pensioners’ income came from investments three years ago, while 13% came from benefits.

Figures released by the ONS showed that the liabilities faced by unfunded public sector pension schemes fell to £770 billion in March 2008, down from £810 billion 12 months earlier, although it said much of the improvement was due to changes in accounting assumptions.

Fuel poverty is defined as someone having to spend more than 10% of their income on heating their property.

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