UK pensioners suffer massive increase in poverty

[TexasTowelie]

The proportion of pensioners living in severe poverty, receiving less than 40 percent of median household income, has climbed to five times the level of 1986. This is an increase from 0.9 percent to 5 percent. It is the largest increase among western European countries, taking the UK from one of the lowest rates to the fourth highest.

The figures are from a new study titled “Pension Reforms and Old Age Inequalities in Europe.” The report’s author, Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus, explained in highly muted language, “The United Kingdom is a good example of the Beveridge-lite systems that have historically failed to combat old-age poverty. ... These have rather ungenerous basic pensions with means-tested supplements, and this reproduces relatively high severe poverty rates among the elderly.”

The state pension in the UK is a pitiful £8,767 per year. Average spending for a one-person retired household is an already incredibly low £13,265, with many forced to cut costs in all directions, but this still leaves a roughly £4,500 shortfall.

The report also found that those European countries that had made private pensions an important source of income for the elderly had seen a rise in financial inequality. “The comparison shows that the shift toward increasing privatisation amplifies the already existing level of social inequality,” Ebbinghaus said.

Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/09/06/pens-s06.html