Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of pensioners were living in (a) relative poverty after housing costs and (b) absolute poverty after housing costs were in receipt of Pension Credit in the latest period for which data is available.

For the latest year 2022/23, 1.9 million pensioners were in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC) in the UK. Of these, 300,000 pensioners were in receipt of Pension Credit, approximately 15%. A household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income in a given financial year. ​

For the latest year 2022/23, 1.4 million pensioners were in absolute poverty AHC in the UK. Of these, 200,000 pensioners were in receipt of Pension Credit, approximately 14%. A household is in absolute poverty if its income is less than 60% of median household income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation.​

‘Households Below Average Income’ provides estimates on the number of and percentage of people living in low-income households based on their household disposable income. As an income measure, it does not include other available resources that might impact on a household’s poverty levels such as savings.

These numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and percentages rounded to the nearest whole per cent.

This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset.

More Information on the data included in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/households-below-average-income-series-quality-and-methodology-information-report-fye-2023#income-definition.

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