‘I feel abandoned by the state’: UK pensioners on the cost of living crisis

theguardian.com:

UK inflation was running at 9% in April, driven by sharp rises in the price of gas and electricity and some steep increases in food and transport costs. Among the groups hardest hit by the rising cost of living are pensioners, who are often on a fixed income and tend to spend more on home energy bills than other households.

In April the state pension went up by 3.1%. The average energy bill of just under £2,000 is 20% of the £9,627 a year paid through the new state pension.

Becky O’Connor, the head of pensions and savings at the website interactive investor, said: “It is asking the impossible to expect people on low, fixed incomes, including the UK’s more than 11 million pensioners, to shoulder such [price] increases. A high proportion of the UK’s 66 and over population are dependent on the state pension alone.”

We heard from Guardian readers who are trying to keep up with rising costs.

Suzanna, a retired teacher from London, has changed what she eats to help reduce her spending. “The cost of food means I buy less and have a basic diet,” she says. “I don’t [use the oven], because you worry about how much energy does the oven use. I normally eat very healthily. I’m going round looking at things that maybe I can just stick in the microwave because they’re cheaper. Even boiling vegetables, it takes quite a long time.”

The 78-year-old lives in a block of flats for older people, but has had to cut down on socialising because of the cost, leaving her feeling isolated. “We’ve had the pandemic, and hardly anyone ever came out their room. I didn’t see anybody for weeks because a lot of elderly people are still very anxious. And now this. I moved just as the pandemic struck. My old friends are starting to say they’d like to come, but