Pensioner poverty under the Labour government

In addition to having much-publicised targets for child poverty, the current government has also set itself the equally ambitious goal ‘to end pensioner poverty in our country’ (Gordon Brown, Labour Party Conference, 30th September 2002). Although it has not said exactly what it means by ‘ending’ pensioner poverty, nor has it given a time deadline for doing so, it has introduced some historically large increases in state support - especially for those pensioners on the lowest incomes. In this article we begin by outlining some of the measures introduced, and then will discuss some methodological issues involved in poverty measurement. Equipped with these tools, we then proceed to analyse changes in pensioner poverty, with a specific focus upon the experience under the present government.