In response to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, A Minimum Income Standard for the UK, Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Independent Age, said:
“These findings are consistent with our own experience. Pensioners tell us that food, fuel and travel cost more and they struggle to make ends meet. They are also having to pay for items that weren’t previously needed, such as access to the internet. The need for this is increasing not just to allow people to stay in touch, as the JRF report suggests, but because it is often the only way to get information and services from government and companies. As a result, as today’s report highlights, for too many pensioners the day-to-day reality is that it is difficult to make ends meet.”