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Written question asked by Brian Jenkins (Labour) on Thursday, 14 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 January 2010. It was answered by Angela Eagle (Labour) on Monday, 18 January 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pensioners: Poverty

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in poverty there were in (a) 1997 and (b) 2009.
Answer

The Government use a basket of three key thresholds of income, after housing costs, to measure pensioner poverty. The most commonly used figures relate to those with incomes below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income, after housing costs.Estimates of poverty are published annually in the 'Households Below Average Income' publication. The most recent estimate which can be made is for 2007-08, due to availability of data.Latest information is provided in the following table:

Number and proportion of pensioners falling below 60 per cent. of median household income, after housing costs, in 1997-98 (GB) and 2007-08 (UK)
Total number of pensioners Proportion of pensioners
1997-98 2,900,000 29
2007-08 2,000,000 18
Notes:
1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data, sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). FRS figures are for Great Britain up to 1997-98, and for the United Kingdom from 1998-99, with estimates for Northern Ireland imputed for the years 1998-99 through 2001-02. The reference period for FRS figures is single financial years.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
504 c62W; 311777
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Pensioners Poverty
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk