Which Pensioners Don't Spend their Income and Why?

Research by the Pensions Commission indicates that older pensioners, on average, spend substantially less of their income than young pensioners. It has also been shown that pensioners are more likely to be 'expenditure poor' than 'income poor' when compared with the general population. This potentially has significant implications for the Government's strategy for tackling pensioner poverty, depending on the reasons why pensioners do not spend. The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned the Social Policy Research Unit to examine which pensioner households do not spend their income and why that might be. Apart from the fact that older pensioners tend to spend less than younger ones, very little is known about which pensioners do not spend substantial amounts of their income. Even less is known about why they do not spend it.