Pensioner Income Series 2017/18 findings

hugheskevi

[FONT=&quot]The Pensioner Income Series 2017-18 was published today. Some findings I found interesting are (in £ per year, 2017/18 price terms):[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Total income[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Gross income of recently retired pensioner couples was £44,530, of which £12,827 (29%) was from the State. Mean net income after housing costs for recently retired pensioner couples was £33,893.[/FONT]


· [FONT=&quot]Gross income of pensioner couples was £39,159 in 2017/18, of which £13,818 (35%) was from the State. Mean net income after housing costs for pensioner couples was £30,451[/FONT]


· [FONT=&quot]Across all pensioners, average incomes in real terms are little changed from 2009/10.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sources of Income[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Income provided by the State was the largest component of total gross income for both pensioner couples and single pensioners. This was 59 per cent for single pensioners, while for pensioner couples it was 35 per cent.[/FONT]


· [FONT=&quot]Income from earnings made up seven per cent of total income for single pensioners. For pensioner couples, 22 per cent of total income was from earnings. 27% of pensioner couples and 7% of single pensioners received earned income.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Amounts from particular types of income[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Of recently retired pensioner couples in receipt of means-tested benefits, the average means-tested payment was £5,996.[/FONT]


· [FONT=&quot]Of recently retired pensioner couples in receipt of occupational pension income (which will mostly be Defined Benefit pension income), the mean payment was £19,293.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Occupational Pension plateau?[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]For the first time, occupational pension income fell slightly, after years of significant increases. This suggests that the expected peak of Defined Benefit payments may have been reached, with future payments perhaps unlikely to increase strongly due to the private sector Defined Benefit pension closures in the 1990s and 2000s.[/FONT]

drumtochty

Yes there are very large variances there with regards to retirement income distribution across the population.


It would be less than wonderful towards the lower levels of pensioner income illustrated in the publication.

greatkingrat

Is that supposed to be an average figure? 44k average income for a couple seems implausible - many couples wouldn't have earned that even when working.

hugheskevi

Is that supposed to be an average figure?

Yes. I've shown mean average above, but median figures are reported too in the link - typically about £7,000 lower than mean.

The £44K figure for recently retired couples (which is defined as the person in the couple with the highest income being above but within 5 years of State Pension age, so their spouse could be below State Pension age) breaks down as follows across the relevant population:

Income from State - 29%
Occupational pension income - 28%
Personal pension income - 4%
Investment income - 10%
Earnings income - 29%
Other income - 1%

zagfles

Does that mean "recently retired" might be people who haven't actually retired - ie are over state pension age but still in work?

westv

zagfles wrote: »

Does that mean "recently retired" might be people who haven't actually retired - ie are over state pension age but still in work?

Must do - 29% earñings income.

justme111

greatkingrat wrote: »

Is that supposed to be an average figure? 44k average income for a couple seems implausible - many couples wouldn't have earned that even when working.

Yep. Something does not add up.

zagfles

westv wrote: »

Must do - 29% earñings income.

Although that can include younger spouse earnings as above. But it does appear they're using "retired" to mean above state pension age, rather than retired! Or am i mireading it, it's not clear.

drumtochty

I also could not tie up the original posters numbers and think he may have double counted.


I consider the average couples total income in retirement and not working at best would be £25k to £35k PA.

hugheskevi

Does that mean "recently retired" might be people who haven't actually retired - ie are over state pension age but still in work?

Yes - the survey shows the income of all households (technically benefit units, but they are usually the same thing) containing pensioners.

Whether they have retired, partially retired, in full-time work, etc, does not matter.

The survey uses the term 'recently retired' solely as an age reference to the head of household, not to a work status.

I also could not tie up the original posters numbers and think he may have double counted.

The stats are all from the cited source in the first post - which do you think are not accurate?

I consider the average couples total income in retirement and not working at best would be £25k to £35k PA.

The Pensioner Income Series is the most comprehensive and well-established survey of pension incomes, based on Family Resource Survey data. It reports multiple different income measures.

Recently-retired couples (Pensioner Income Series definition) receive an average of £12,827 p.a from the State and 63% of them receive more from non-State sources than State.

Mean occupational pension income for recently retired couples with a positive amount of occupational pension income is £19,293 and the median is £12,514.

The other major income source is earnings, at £13,036.

There is also investment income, personal pension income and other income to include.

kinger101

It would be better to use the median rather than the mean. The mean is not a good average to use unless data has a normal distribution.