Andrew Harrop‚ Head of Policy at Age Concern and Help the Aged‚ said:

“Although the commitment to raise the basic state pension by at least 2.5 per cent will be a relief for older people‚ a £97.65-a-week pension is still not enough to ensure a decent standard of living to people who have worked hard all their lives.

“While pension credit will rise in line with earnings‚ benefits linked to the headline inflation‚ such as attendance allowance and disability living allowance‚ will be frozen unless the normal procedures are changed.

“With pensioner inflation still higher than for any other age group‚ the Government should allow some form of increase for inflation-linked benefits in the coming pre-budget report.”