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Investigation lays bare elderly's state pension plight

Britain's pensioners are facing dire financial circumstances, the Daily Mail warned yesterday.

Figures cited by the newspaper showed that almost two million of Britain's 11 million elderly are "living in poverty".

The UK state pension of £87 per week is one of the lowest in western Europe - and many pensioners remain unaware that they can claim 'top-up' pension credits to boost this figure.

In fact, according to government statistics, some £2.5 billion went unclaimed last year.

It was also claimed that there were marked gender inequalities in the state pension system - with women who either stopped working or never worked to look after their children not given enough support.

This group will not have built up sufficient savings due to their previous lack of income - a disparity which is not sufficiently redressed through legislation, the report continued.

What's more, the higher proportion of income paid by pensioners by food and fuel might mean that they will be particularly affected by rising inflation.

A global grain shortage has led to higher food prices - and energy firms including British Gas recently announced that they would be putting up the cost of its general tariff by around 15 per cent.

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