"I spent most of my life working on and around farms. My wife Marg and I have been married for 57 years. I get the State Pension and a small pension that I paid a lot of money for that was supposed to give me £400 a month, but when it came it was only £90 a month. I think it must have been bad investments. Our combined pensions were getting a bit tight, and we were cutting back on things to help pay the bills. We’d had to turn down the heating and reduce how much we were using it. 

I phoned up Independent Age earlier this year to enquire about Pension Credit. Since the benefits have come through, I’ve used some of the money to buy a wood burner, and that heats the whole house and saves on gas. Obviously if the pension was higher then I wouldn’t need the benefits. But you do the best with what you’ve got."