Is Pensioner Poverty in the UK going to get worse under Labour?

 

It's well known that the UK state retirement pension is one of the least generous pension schemes within OECD countries.

Some critics do respond to this by saying that a lot of retired people in the UK, also have occupational or private pensions, and are therefore, less likely to be living in relative poverty. While this is true, many retired people in the UK don't have an occupational or private pension. According to the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), this applies to 38% of UK state pensioners.

Relative poverty is defined as 60% of median household income. At the end of 2025, this figure was £22,500. The New State Pension of £241.30 p.w., or £12,547.60 per year, is less than half of the National Minimum Wage or around £6 an hour for a 40-hour working week. The Old State Retirement Pension is even less generous at £184.90 p.w. or £9,614.80 per year.

Some 62.1% of UK state retirement pensioners receive the Old State Retirement Pension, or around 13.2 million people. If your only income is the New State Retirement Pension or the Old State Retirement Pension, then you're living in relative poverty and in the UK, many pensioners are living in poverty.

With rising housing costs in Britain, the UK state retirement pension, wouldn't even cover the cost of renting a property in the private sector. Yet, the government and many other British politicians, are determined to make pensioners financially worse off because they say that UK state retirement pension is unaffordable and unsustainable in the long run.

The Labour government of Andy Burnham have announced that the triple lock that uprates UK state pensions, will end in 2030. Some reports have also suggested that Labour will increase the state retirement age to 68.