Minimum Income Standards And Older Pensioner's Needs
The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) defines how much income people need in order to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK today. The MIS for pensioner households represents a minimum for pensioners in general and is based on the needs of hypothetical case study pensioner households – singles and couples – aged 72 without significant health problems.
However, the rapid increase in the population of older pensioners makes it particularly salient to ask whether the current MIS for pensioner households is adequate for meeting the needs of this growing group of older pensioners. An MIS based on a relatively healthy person in their early 70s may be of limited relevance to a pensioner a decade or so older.
This research set out to explore whether different needs among older pensioners may alter significantly the income they need for an acceptable standard of living, and if so the nature and rationale for this difference.
There were three main elements to the research: consultation with experts, a review of the literature, and focus groups with older pensioners. An advisory panel comprising academic experts from the fields of medical and social gerontology was held to discuss the effects of ageing on the physical, cognitive and psychological characteristics of older pensioners and to inform the literature review. A separate panel of experts in older people and ageing issues was convened to feed their views and experiences into the research process.