{"id":374627,"date":"2026-04-11T14:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T14:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374627\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T14:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T14:11:38","slug":"state-pension-increasingly-difficult-to-live-off-as-iran-war-pushes-up-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374627\/","title":{"rendered":"State pension ‘increasingly difficult’ to live off as Iran war pushes up prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The full new state pension is now worth \u00a3241.30 a week (\u00a312,547.60 a year) but not everyone receives this amount<\/p>\n

10:54, 10 Apr 2026Updated 12:11, 10 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Senior,<\/p>\n

Older people living on just the state pension are seeing their budgets squeezed even more(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Living on the state pension<\/a> alone is becoming “increasingly difficult” to live on as prices continue to rise due to the Iran war.<\/p>\n

The full new state pension is now worth \u00a3241.30 a week (\u00a312,547.60 a year) but not everyone receives this amount. Your state pension entitlement is based on your National Insurance record.<\/p>\n

You typically need 35 years’ worth of contributions to get the full new state pension – and a minimum of ten years to get anything at all.<\/p>\n

There are also people who get the older basic state pension, which is worth less at \u00a3184.90 a week (\u00a39,615 a year).<\/p>\n

Royal London research estimates 12% of adults over state pension age rely solely on the state pension, with 16% of women and 8% of men having no other income in retirement.<\/p>\n

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Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at Royal London, said: \u201cFor many pensioners, living on the state pension alone is becoming increasingly difficult.”<\/p>\n

She added: “Hundreds of thousands of those who get the new state pension don\u2019t receive the full amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who do get the full new state pension, the \u00a3241.30 payment works out at less than \u00a335 a day. That\u2019s not a lot to pay for food, heating, energy and council tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, twice as many pensioners are on the old basic state pension system, and, while some will get a much larger weekly payment thanks to the state second pension, those on the basic state pension will only get \u00a3184.90 a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the state pension has risen in cash terms, the cost of everyday essentials like food, energy, housing and council tax is still far higher than it was before the cost-of-living crisis, and these are bills people simply can\u2019t avoid.\u201c<\/p>\n

The war in Iran has led to oil prices soaring, which has already had a knock-on effect on fuel costs.<\/p>\n

The average cost of a litre of unleaded petrol stood at 158.0p on Thursday, up 25.2p or 19% since the start of the Middle East conflict. A litre of diesel now averages 191.1p, up 48.7p or 34%.<\/p>\n

The war is also forecast to cause a surge in energy bills<\/a> this summer. Analysts at Cornwall Insight currently expect the Ofgem price cap will soar to \u00a31,929 a year for the typical home this July.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates have gone up as well, amid reduced confidence of interest rates being cut this year.<\/p>\n

The average mortgage rate on Thursday morning was 5.89% for a two-year fix and 5.77% for a five-year fix, according to Moneyfacts.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Lamb, external relations manager at Money Wellness, urged people to check what help is available to them, including Pension Credit.<\/p>\n

Pension Credit is available to people above state pension age who are on low income. The main part of Pension Credit is known as “Guarantee Credit” and this tops up your weekly income to \u00a3238 if you’re single, or to \u00a3363.25 if you\u2019re in a couple.<\/p>\n

Ms Lamb said: \u201cPension Credit remains one of the most under\u2011claimed benefits in the UK, with around 910,000 eligible households not claiming it, meaning people are missing out on roughly \u00a32,600 a year on average plus access to other help like housing and council tax support. For thousands of pensioners this extra income could ease pressure on tight budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven rising costs and the rising incidence of fuel poverty among older people, it\u2019s vital that pensioners and their families are aware of what they\u2019re entitled to and get support to access it, as every pound matters when you\u2019re on a fixed income.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The full new state pension is now worth \u00a3241.30 a week (\u00a312,547.60 a year) but not everyone receives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,12613,244,245,3452],"class_list":{"0":"post-374627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-pensions","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-state-pension"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}