ONS says pensioners’ incomes have surged 50pc since 1990s
PENSIONERS’ incomes have steadily grown since the 1990s, data showed yesterday, even rising steadily through the deep recession of the last four years.
The average pensioner or couple had an income of £446 per week in the 2010-2011 tax year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, a rise of 50.2 per cent over the average income for pensioners in 1994-1995, even accounting for price rises over the period.
Pensioner couples earned an average of £610 per week, up from £424, while single pensioners earned £296 every week in 2010-2011, up from £202 in 1994-1995.
But Lynn Graves at Scottish Widows warned that the stark divide between the incomes earned by retired men and women had not disappeared.
“Today’s figures from the ONS have revealed that single women are still receiving significantly lower incomes in retirement than men – £279 per week compared to £345,” Graves said, “And single women are far more likely to be reliant on an annual private pension income of less than £5,000 – 60 per cent compared to 47 per cent.”
Other figures from the ONS, also released yesterday, showed that the upward trend extended all the way back to 1977 – since then incomes have more than doubled.