Pensions increase by 5pc

Around 37,000 pensioners in Oldham will benefit from a 5 per cent rise in their state pension from today.

The change, from £90.70 to £95.25, is the biggest percentage increase since 2001, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society, Rosie Winterton, said: “Poorer pensioners will get real help through the biggest ever rise in pension credit which will ensure no pensioner needs to live on less than £130 a week, or £198 for couples.

“I know at the moment, people are feeling the pinch and have concerns about finances. But it’s worth looking at how far we have come in helping vulnerable pensioners in the last 10 years. In that time we’ve lifted nearly a million pensioners out of poverty.

“In 1997, our pensioners’ income was well below the European average. Today their income is nearly 10 per cent higher than the EU average.

“Even the poorest pensioners in the UK are better off than the poorest pensioners in France or Germany.”