Poverty and 'the silent generation'

A shocking report, released today by the older people’s charity reveals vast inequalities among UK pensioners. Those over 75, are thousands of pounds a year worse off than younger pensioners – an average of £59 per week less – and are far more likely to live in persistent poverty. A quarter of this group have no savings at all.

“The report shows there are huge variations in circumstances amongst older people,” Morrison added. “So blunt instruments that are designed to tackle intergenerational unfairness – dismantling a system of pensioner benefits or the triple lock on the state pension – will also impact on those people who we’ve all seen, when standing behind them in the supermarket queue, who are buying very, very small supplies of food, and are living in fear of their next bill.”

More than a third of the UK’s 11.8 million pensioners are over 75, and even with the current level of available benefits, the report finds that an estimated 950,000 (20%) pensioners in this age group live in poverty.

Morrison explained that a large reason for the inequality among pensioners is because the ‘silent generation,’ those who lived through the rationing of the war and the austerity of the 1950s, may not be inclined to make their voice heard.

“It’s a silent generation in that they’ve demanded very little from the state; they’ve expected to conform to society to give, and to not demand much back. When we talk to over 75s they say: ‘there’s people much worse off than me’ or ‘I mustn’t grumble. So they ‘make do and mend’ by scrimping with their state pension.”

Over 75’s are far less likely to have had the opportunity to secure high pay, invested in a second state pension or make private pension provision than the baby boomer generation who followed them.

Read the full article here.