"Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS)* show the UK as fourth from the bottom of a list of pensioner poverty in the EU, with only Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain in a worse position.
Relative poverty is defined as having a disposable income at less than 60% of the national average. The UK has 21.4% of pensioners in this group compared to an EU average of 14%.
"We know that the State pension in the UK is relatively low, but when put into a ‘league table' like this it looks even worse, particularly as there will be a lot of EU countries that we would expect to see below us.
"I must stress that this is ‘relative' poverty as opposed to ‘absolute' poverty and therefore will depend on the overall standard of living - the national average income - in the country concerned. Nonetheless, it doesn't make comfortable reading.
"State pension reform is on the Coalition agenda and although we have seen progress in the move to a £140 per week flat pension, care must be taken to make sure this is up-to-date when it comes into force. Additionally, it perhaps gives some weight to another issue currently challenging the Coalition; the targeting of universal benefits and whether they should be removed from some more wealthy pensioners.
"The issue for me would be to make sure that the saving is redistributed to those who need it most and that it is not another amount of money being taken out of the system."
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