Wales
Older people in low income
Key points
- The proportion of pensioners living in low-income households (using the low-income threshold of the 60% of median income after deducting housing costs) has been falling, from an average of 26% of all pensioners in the years 1994/95 to 1996/97 to an average of 19% in the years 2004/05 to 2006/07.
- Pensioners are less likely to be living in low income than non-pensioners.
- The one in five pensioners who are in low income compares to almost half of people in lone parent families.
- The proportion of pensioners on low income in Wales is slightly higher than the United Kingdom average: 19% compared with 18%. It is higher than in six of the English regions plus Scotland and lower than in the other three English regions plus Northern Ireland.
- Only a small proportion of the people with very low incomes are pensioners.
- People in receipt of guaranteed Pension Credit is the best indicator available for the geographic distribution of low income among pensioners. More people are in receipt of guaranteed Pension Credit in The Valleys than elsewhere but the differences are much less than for working-age people in receipt of means-test benefits (see the indicator on the location of low income).
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By household type
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Graph 3: Depth of low income
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Graph 4: Compared to the UK
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Graph 5: By LA
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Map
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Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows the risk of a pensioner being in a low-income household. For comparison purposes, the equivalent data for Great Britain as a whole is also shown.
The second graph shows the risks of being in low income for people in different family types. Note that a couple (and therefore both of this adults) is classified as a pensioner couple if either of the adults is of pensionable age.
The third graph shows the numbers of those on low income grouped by family type and divided according to how much additional money the household would need a week to reach the threshold of 60% of contemporary median income after deducting housing costs.
The fourth graph shows the proportion of pensioners in low-income households in Wales compares with the rest of the UK.
The data source for the first four graphs is Households Below Average Income, based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). Income is disposable household income after deducting housing costs and the low-income threshold is the same as that used elsewhere, namely 60% of contemporary median household income. In the first, second and fourth graphs, the data is equivalised (adjusted) to account for differences in household size and composition whilst in the third it is not equivalised. The self-employed are included in the statistics. Note that in 2007 DWP made some technical changes to how it adjusted household income for household composition (including retrospective changes) and, as a result, the data is slightly different than previously published figures. The averaging over three-year periods has been done to improve statistical reliability.
The fifth graph shows, for the latest year, how the proportion of people aged 60 and over in receipt of the guaranteed part of Pension Credit varies by local authority. The map shows the same data but by super output area and using the number of people of pensionable age as the denominator (estimates of the numbers of people aged 60 and over not being available at a super output area level). The data source is the DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. ONS population estimates have been used to calculate the proportions.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: high. The FRS is a well-established annual government survey, designed to be representative of the population as a whole.
External links
See the DWP sites on Pension Credit and Winter Fuel Payments.