Elderly 'need help in recession'

The recession has affected different sections of society in different ways

Automatic payment of benefits and help for savers would ease pensioners' suffering in the recession, according to a charity.

Age Concern and Help the Aged is also calling for greater access to care services and more measures to tackle fuel poverty in the UK.

Following a survey it claimed that many pensioners were cutting back on food and struggled to afford essentials.

Food prices have remained stubbornly high in recent months.

Prices bite

The latest figures on inflation suggest that food - especially imported fruit and vegetables, mineral water and meat - and petrol prices have risen.

CHANGING HABITS

Bob Henderson retired in July last year. He is 68 and lives in Northumberland.

On income falls in retirement: "You see the train coming but you can't get off the tracks."

On food shopping: "The things we used to take for granted are out of the window."

On the cost of petrol: "We can't just jump in the car and drive 50 miles to Carlisle for the day without thinking of the cost."

Some 22% of people aged over 60 are skipping meals to save money, according to a poll of 1,230 people by the charity.

"Many older people are being clobbered by high prices and are being pushed to extreme measures to cope financially - the government cannot sit by while older people skip meals and put their health at risk," said Michelle Mitchell, of the charity.

"The state of the economy is the defining issue of our times and this year's Budget will have many demands on it. But the challenge to government is to ensure that older people, and older voters, are not forgotten."

The survey also found that 42% of elderly people were struggling to afford essential items, the same proportion as those cutting back on socialising. A similar quota also suggested they were being forced to use less electricity.

However, the latest state pension rise from the start of April was based on an inflation rate of 5% in September, much higher than the current level.

'Feeling the pinch'

Bob Henderson, from Cramlington in Northumberland, retired in July last year after running his own business and was looking forward to a "reasonably comfortable" retirement.

But he said the income he and his wife Anne, 63, now benefited from had plunged compared with their working years.

"The things we used to take for granted are out of the window," he said.

When shopping, a couple of bottles of wine no longer made it into the basket, which was full of two-for-one offers. Trips in the car were now tallied with their household budget, meaning they did not get out as much as they wanted to.

"We are not on the breadline, but we do feel the pinch," said Mr Henderson, who is angry about his "meagre" state pension.

"We know people who have had to carry on working to survive. I would hate to be in the position of trying to cope with credit when on a pension."

Age Concern and Help the Aged wants Chancellor Alistair Darling to address older people's concerns in the Budget on 22 April.

The wish-list included speeding up the payment of benefits automatically. It estimates that older people in the UK miss out on an estimated £5bn in unclaimed benefits.

It wants assistance for savers, whose returns have been eroded by interest rate cuts in recent months. It also wants action on fuel poverty, by maintaining winter fuel payment levels and improving the energy efficiency of homes.

It is calling for £1bn of extra funds for councils to increase access to care services.