6 Things Pensioners Say They Need (and 6 Things They Don't)

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just published the 2014 Minimum Income Standard research for the UK. We've been doing this every year since 2008. It is based on what pensioners and other members of the public say they need for an acceptable but basic lifestyle. The agreed items are then costed in real shops to arrive at a total budget. Here are 6 things that are on the list for a pensioner couple and 6 that (it may surprise you) are not.

Here are 6 things that ARE part of what pensioners say they need for a minimum but basic lifestyle

Slippers £6

F&F microsuede mule slippers, last for one year (male).

The types, quantities and retailers of clothing listed by groups has remained similar over time. Most clothing is priced at supermarkets and inexpensive clothing shops including Primark and Matalan.

Pickled beetroot 70p

Via britstore.co.uk

Tesco pickled sliced beetroot 340g (max lifetime of 6 weeks). On offer when priced.

Generally, the pattern described by participants in the research is of 3 meals a day – breakfast, lunch and an evening meal – with options for snacks and drinks. The list of all the drinks, meals and snacks included are sent to a nutritionist, who compiles them into a weekly menu and analyses it for nutritional adequacy.

Basic mobile £9

Black Nokia 100 mobile phone, lasts for 5 years, with a £10 per month Pay As You Go contract.

Pensioner groups say they need landline and mobile phones, but free 'anytime' calls instead of a free evening and weekend calls package. For older people, mobile phones are still seen as primarily for emergency use, with the majority of calls made with a landline.

Paper shredder £19.99

ProAction 8 Sheet 4.6 Litre Cross Cut Desktop Shredder, from Argos. Lasts for 10 years.

Pensioners included a small paper shredder in order to be able to destroy confidential documents and to protect themselves against identity fraud, which had not been mentioned in any previous waves of research.

Broadband internet £5.99 per month

Plusnet Essentials Broadband, 10GB download limit per month (with Plusnet anytime: £5.99 + £5 for anytime calls and free 0845/0870 calls).

Discussions among older people in the research have become increasingly intense each year, with advocates for and against computer use, but always with eventual consensus that if pensioners needed to access the internet they could do so in libraries or other places with public access. In 2014 this picture changed. Whereas previously there had been general agreement that older people were not disadvantaged if they did not have access to the internet at home, groups said that this was no longer the case.

Chiropody £30

Via heatherschiropody.co.uk

£30 every 8 weeks for routine care, clipping nails etc. (female only).

The 2014 pensioner groups included money for chiropody as they said that, even if people were in good health, it could be harder for them to bend and they might need someone to clip their nails.

...and here are some things that are NOT part of a minimum standard of living for pensioners in the UK today

NO Satellite TV

No expensive TV services are included in a basic lifestyle, just Freeview.

NO Plasma Television Set

No plasma TVs are included in a basic lifestyle either, just a basic model for £169 to last 10 years.

NO Foreign holiday

Just a coach trip for one week in the UK in the summer and a long weekend in the spring.

NO Cigarettes

Although pensioners do allow themselves one can of lager or bitter each week.

NO Car

But pensioners do need a bicycle and £10 a week for taxis for emergencies, early appointments or getting back from the shops or social activities.

NO Dishwasher

A washing up bowl (£1.69 lasting 20 years) and washing-up liquid for 14p a day instead.