Poverty in later life

At Independent Age, we hear through our advisers, community teams, volunteers, campaigners, the people who use our services and the community organisations who have received grants from us, about the impact that living on a low income can have on someone in later life.

People have shared with our staff and volunteers that they only boil the kettle once a day to save electricity, that they skip meals so they can put the heating on, or stay in bed all day to stay warm. They’ve told us they worry about any unexpected costs hitting them out of the blue, and see less of their friends as they can’t afford to meet them for a coffee. This way of life is having a massive impact on every aspect of a person’s life, including negatively affecting both their physical and mental health.

The national data tells us that poverty in later life is on the rise, and currently stands at more than two million people. That’s two million people having to make really tough choices about how to live their lives.

With inflation at an all time high and the cost of living rising, we believe action is desperately needed to ensure people in later life on a low income are better supported.

New poverty in later life research

We know that for some, living in poverty can be a lifelong state which they begin in childhood and are never able to exit, and we want to work with others to tackle poverty across the life course.

But as the people we directly support are aged 65 and over, we also wanted to discover whether people enter or exit poverty during their later life, and if so, why and how can it be prevented. This knowledge will help us persuade policy makers, including those in local and national government, to take action to improve this situation for everyone as they age.

In January 2022 we released our Poverty in later life report. This new research, with City University of London, analysed a two-year and a nine-year period, tracking the financial health of people past state pension age between 2010 and 2019.

Our key findings include:

· 40% of all pensioners spent at least one year in poverty during the 9-year period. The impact of being in poverty, even if only for one year, can be massive. We found that older people who spend at least one year in poverty within a nine-year period are twice as likely to not to have a filling meal every day and three times as likely to have a cold home.

· When looking at the data over the nine year period, around one in 20 pensioners were longer-term poor. This means they experienced poverty for seven to nine years of the nine-year period. Certain groups of pensioners are more likely to be in this situation, in particular single older people, black older people and older renters.

· Poverty doesn’t affect all groups equally and we know some people are more at risk than others. Government statistics show that certain groups of people are more at risk of being in poverty in later life, including older private renters, black older people and older people living alone, but our new research shows these groups are also at greater risk of falling into poverty past state pension age. This implies that these inequalities don’t just play out in working age, with people entering retirement already in poverty, but also that people are entering poverty past retirement age.

· Our research showed that changes in social benefit income is the biggest single reason why people enter and exit poverty past state pension age. We found that three in five (61%) pensioners who enter poverty during later life experienced a reduction in social benefit income. Social benefits in later life include things like Pension Credit, Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit and others entitlements.

Next steps

Our poverty in later life research shows why our Credit where it’s due campaign to increase Pension Credit take up is so important. Currently millions of older people miss out on this much-needed money which tops up their state pension and gives them access to a range of additional entitlements, with a value of approximately £7,000. Progress to increase the number of eligible people receiving Pension Credit has been far too slow, with only around 60% of those eligible actually receiving the money.

We don’t want the government to ignore this for any longer. Our Credit where it’s due campaign is calling on Government to put in place an ambitious action plan explaining how they will increase the uptake of Pension Credit over the next five years and we welcome ideas and suggestions from others about how this problem could be tackled.

How you can help

Anyone who cares about this issue can support our policy and campaigns work to make life better for older people who live on a low income. If you want to help, why not:

• Sign up to our campaigner e-mail network for more information on our Credit where it’s due campaign and the actions you can take to show your support. You can read more about the campaigns progress in our Credit where it’s due: where are we now blog.
• If you’re aged over 65 and want to inform and shape our policy and campaign activity you can become a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) volunteer. This is a flexible volunteering opportunity. The team will get in touch when we have an opportunity and you can let us know if you’re interested and have time to be involved. Previous LEAP sessions have discussed the best language to use around bereavement and evaluated national mental health resources. If you would like to find out more, please visit our website or contact us by email volunteering@independentage.org or phone on 020 7605 4255, we would love to chat with you.
• Access our information and advice for you, or someone you know, if you/they are worrying about money. We have paper based guides which you can order online or call our helpline and ask for some to be sent to you. We also have all our information on our website, or you can speak to us on the phone by calling 0800 319 6789.
• Share your story if you are living on a low income, or if you volunteer with someone who has money worries. We don’t always need people’s personal information, even general conversations about the reality of life for people living on a low income will increase the power of our policy and campaigns activity. If you have insight you’d be willing to share with us, you can email campaigns@independentage.org