Poverty alert for over-65s

AROUND one in seven 65-yearolds were in income poverty in late 2020 due to the state pension age rising from 65 to 66.

A key effect of the rise, between late 2018 and late 2020, was that 65-year-olds missed out on pension income of £1 2 per week on average, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank.

The rate of absolute income poverty – less than £260 per week for a couple without children – for those this age rose by 1 percentage points to 2 per cent by late 2020. Emily Andrews, of the Centre For Ageing Better which funded the research, said: ‘It is crucial the Government gets serious on improving access to work for people in their 60s.’