{"id":44477,"date":"2014-07-02T08:44:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T08:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=49ad44bc276f6c7ee179046abb13c798"},"modified":"2014-07-02T08:44:23","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T08:44:23","slug":"press-release-pensioners-incomes-beat-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=44477","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Pensioners\u2019 incomes beat inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>New official statistics show that, in 2012\/13, average gross incomes of pensioner couples and singles grew to \u00a3477 \u2013 an above inflation rise \u2013 with state benefits accounting for 44% of the total.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s State Pension triple lock ensures that pensioner incomes are now protected against inflation \u2013 increasing each year by whichever is the highest out of prices, average earnings or 2.5%.<\/p>\n<p>Last year this meant that the Basic State Pension increased by 5.2% and Pension Credit by 3.9%, compared with the 3.1% increase in Retail Price Index (<abbr title=\"Retail Price Index\">RPI<\/abbr>) inflation. <\/p>\n<p>The Pensioners\u2019 Incomes Series for 2012\/13 also reveals that, over the past 14 years, average net incomes for pensioners after housing costs have been taken into account grew by 37% in real terms. Contributing to this rise is a greater number of pensioners choosing to remain in work, with earnings among this age group growing by 62%. <\/p>\n<p>Minister for Pensions Steve Webb said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I am proud of our work to protect pensioners, the success of which is borne out in these figures.<\/p>\n<p>The triple lock has marked a profound shift in how the state supports pensioners and it means that 12.7 million people will be over \u00a3400 a year better off by the end of this Parliament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Alongside the guarantee of a strong State Pension, we are also seeing more older people choose to phase their retirement in a way which suits them. This government\u2019s historic decision to end the discrimination of the mandatory retirement age has made that possible for thousands of people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Figures released today show:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>benefit income, which includes the State Pension, has increased by 27% since 1998\/99<\/li>\n<li>in 2012\/13 state benefits accounted for 44% of pensioners\u2019 incomes, occupational pensions made up 27%, earnings 17%, investment income 7%, and personal pensions 4% <\/li>\n<li>since 1998\/99, the fastest growing sources of income are earnings, which has increased by 62% in this time, and personal pension income, which has increased by over 250%<\/li>\n<li>28% of pensioner units (single pensioners or couples) received at least one income-related benefit in 2012\/13, such as Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit<\/li>\n<li>22% of pensioner units were in receipt of disability benefits \u2013 pensioner couples received an average \u00a388 a week from disability benefits in 2012\/13 compared with \u00a369 for single pensioners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The triple lock builds on the government\u2019s ongoing protection of key benefits for older people including: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>free eye tests<\/li>\n<li>free NHS prescriptions<\/li>\n<li>free bus passes<\/li>\n<li>free television licences for those aged 75 and over<\/li>\n<li>Winter Fuel Payments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cold Weather Payments were permanently increased from \u00a38.50 to \u00a325 in 2010.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"more-information\">More information<\/h2>\n<p>Read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/pensioners-incomes-series-2012-to-2013\">The Pensioners\u2019 Incomes Series United Kingdom, 2012\/13<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Between 2011\/12 and 2012\/13, gross mean income grew from \u00a3475 to \u00a3477. Net mean income before housing costs grew from \u00a3395 to \u00a3397 and net mean income after housing costs grew from \u00a3363 to \u00a3364. <\/p>\n<p>Mean net income after housing costs has risen faster than before housing costs. After deducting housing costs, mean net income has grown by 37% since 1998\/99 compared with 32% before housing costs. <\/p>\n<p>Pensioners\u2019 mean net income has grown faster than incomes for the whole population over the last 14 years.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"contact-press-office\">Contact Press Office<\/h2>\n<p>Media enquiries for this press release \u2013\t0203 267 5123<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact postal-address\" id=\"contact_827\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Press Office<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<p class=\"adr\">\n<span class=\"street-address\">Caxton House<br \/>\n<br \/>\nTothill Street<\/span><br \/><span class=\"locality\">London<\/span><br \/><span class=\"postal-code\">SW1H 9NA<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">London Press Office (national media and London area enquiries only \u2013 not questions about personal claims)<\/span><br \/>\n              020 3267 5144\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out-of-hours (journalists only)<\/span><br \/>\n              076 59 108 883\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">England and Wales (local media enquiries)<\/span><br \/>\n              029 20 586 then 097or 098 or 099\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Scotland (local media enquiries)<\/span><br \/>\n              0131 310 1122\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow DWP on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Twitter \u2013 <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/dwppressoffice\">www.twitter.com\/dwppressoffice<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>Facebook \u2013 <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dwp\">www.facebook.com\/dwp<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>LinkedIn \u2013 <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dwp\">www.linkedin.com\/company\/dwp<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li>YouTube \u2013 <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/dwp\">www.youtube.com\/dwp<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British pensioners have seen their income grow for the first time in real terms in 3 years \u2013 with the triple lock protection of the State Pension and more older people choosing to stay in work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}