London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has published a report in the International Journal of Epidemiology defining the minimum income required by older people to live healthy and decent lives.

The team for the first time assembled the current best evidence from worldwide research conducted since World War II on the essential personal needs of older people in diet and exercise, safe and warm homes in good repair, human relations and belonging, medical care and personal hygiene, and getting about. These basic needs were translated into practicable everyday ways of living, and their minimum personal costs were established for the over 65s in England today.

The analysis demonstrated that minimum income needs as assessed in this study were close to 50% greater than the UK state pension. The minimum income requirement was also appreciably more than the Government's official safety net for basic necessities after means testing, the Pension Credit Guarantee. In addition, the Pension Credit Guarantee also has to meet extra costs of disability which were not included in the present study.

This study, which was initially funded by Age Concern England, sought to translate half a century of international research effort on people's health and well-being into practical everyday guidance on healthy ways of living and their minimum cost for older people. By focusing on minimum income requirements, the results provide a common-sense and concrete input into the current debate on attainable health as a universal human right, and a focus for the health community striving to reach all of the population.

Adoption by Governments of the minimum income approach would be a definitive step against persistent inequalities in health among older people.