Pensioners are facing higher-than-average inflation and should be offered a state pension increase that reflects this, it has been suggested.
The state pension should be increased in line with inflation to help elderly people cope with the rising cost of living, leading charities have claimed. Their call follows the publication of official figures which show that consumer price inflation is running at 5.2 percent.
According to a study by Alliance Trust, the inflation rate facing over-75s is actually 50 percent higher than this, at 7.8 percent. The firm argued that elderly people spend a larger proportion of their overall budget on food and fuel and are therefore hit harder by rising energy bills and supermarket prices.
Responding to the latest figures, Gordon Lishman, director-general of Age Concern, said: "With the cost of living sky-rocketing, the government should be taking the real rate of inflation for pensioners into account when uprating next year's basic state pension and pension credit."
Mervyn Kohler, a spokesperson for Help the Aged, echoed this call, insisting that even a five percent increase - as dictated by the retail prices index - is insufficient compared to the financial reality facing most elderly households.
Age Concern revealed recently that a third of those entitled to pension credit are not claiming the benefit, despite struggling to pay their bills. The charity urged the government to reform the system and introduce automatic payments.
