'It's Impossible!' Pensioners Can't Cope With 9% Inflation

After scrapping of "triple lock', action demanded to help millions hit hard

- Macer Hall

Pensioners need urgent help as the cost of living is now rising three times as fast as the state pension, argue campaigners.

Millions left out of pocket when the Government broke its promise and suspended the triple lock will now find it "impossible" to cope, warn financial experts. The surge in inflation to nine per cent means pensioners have experienced a brutal £551 real cut in incomes over the past 12 months after the decision to suspend the state pension triple lock guarantee.

In a speech to business leaders last night, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he was "ready to do more" and pledged to cut tax in his Budget this autumn.

The number of pensioners living in poverty has already breached the two million mark, with one in five struggling to get by, according to the Centre For Ageing Better.

Rebecca O'Connor, of financial firm Interactive Investor, said: "Energy price rises are panic inducing. It is asking the impossible to expect people on low, fixed incomes, including the UK's more than 11 million pensioners, to shoulder such increases."

Dennis Reed, director of the over-60s group Silver Voices, said: "The cruel and short-sighted decision to scrap the triple lock has come home to roost for millions of older people, who have contributed to the tax system all their working lives.

"To be cast adrift by the Government in their hours of need, with scarcely a mention of their plight by ministers, is an indictment of their warped priorities.

"With inflation due to rise above 10 per cent, nobody with an income under £200 a week, like millions of pensioners, can afford the essentials for a healthy life. Thousands will die unnecessarily because of government inaction."