Pensioners earning more than the average worker, new analysis says
I was talking to a tourism consultant today about the target group for a new expert led holiday idea. We agreed it had to be the “silver surfer” over 60s as they had most disposable income. Imagine my sense of coincidence when I happened upon this story – relevant to rural areas which have a higher proportion of elderly residents – key challenge is how do we put that disposable income to work in underpinning rural services? Whilst you ponder that you might also want to read through this story which tells us:
Pensioners are better off than ever before and their average incomes will race further ahead of working households’ over the next decade, according to analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). After housing costs and dependants have been taken into account, retired people have had, on average, more money coming in than those in work since 2011. Protected state pension rates, a generational gulf in home ownership and falling real-terms incomes has created a widening gap between young and old.
The median pensioner income in 2013-14 was £398 a week, whereas for working age people it was £384 per week, the IFS director said at the inaugural Pensions Management Institute annual lecture last night. The generational income gap is likely to be exacerbated by plans to cut tax credits, which would mean many working families have even less money coming in next year. The plans follow long-term falls in real-term earnings since 2003.
Dan Wilson Craw, policy manager at the campaign group Generation Rent, said: “Pensions already cost the state billions, and the vast majority of recipients own their home outright. The bill will be even higher when millions of today’s private renters reach retirement age, having acquired few assets, and start claiming housing benefit. The government can either allow the housing crisis to bankrupt the country, or it can actually start building the 300,000 new homes we need each year.
Is this a reality for older people in the countryside? Find out at the next RSN seminar in Cirencester on 18 November (email events@sparse.gov.uk)