The average pensioner is £900 better off as a result of benefit policy changes since the Conservatives came into power in 2010, a think tank has found.
Under the triple lock, pensioners have enjoyed a boost to their state pension each year which has led to 60 per cent growth between 2010-11 and 2023-24.
This is faster than the 46 per cent growth in average earnings, the report said.
The Resolution Foundation research explained that pensioners have gained more than working-age households from tax and benefit decisions since 2010.
The average pensioner is £900 better off as a result of benefit policy changes since 2010 while the average non-pensioner household is £1,400 worse off amid a less generous social security system for working-age families, the report said.
Since 2010, demographic pressures and policies have shifted the balance of state spending towards pensioners.
Spending on pensioners has grown from 9.3 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 to 9.8 per cent in 2024-25
GETTYEven though state spending remains unpredictable, the demographic shift in the state pension has meant the Government have had to focus on this older cohort.
Despite state pension age rises, the number of people claiming the state pension went up by around 570,000, from 12.4 million to 13 million, between 2009-10 and 2024-25, and is expected to rise to 13.2 million by 2028-29.
Spending on pensioners has grown from 9.3 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 to 9.8 per cent in 2024-25, according to the research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
But while benefit policies have generally made pensioners better off, tax changes, such as the recent cuts to employee national insurance, have helped to rebalance the “winners” and “losers”, the report said.
Even though some pensioners have been left better off after permanent tax and benefit changes since 2010, some groups have been left worse off such as households with children aged 14 and under.
Households with younger children are typically £780 a year worse off in 2024-25, as any tax gains have been more than offset by cuts to many child-related benefits, the report said.
The foundation argued that the main task facing Britain is to restart the generational progress on living standards.
People born in the late 1980s earned on average eight per cent less at age 30 than people born 10 years earlier did at the same age, it said.
Stronger economic growth will hold the key to restarting this progress, rather than specific policies targeted at different age cohorts, according to the foundation, which is focused on improving the living standards for those on low to middle incomes.
Sophie Hale, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The combination of Britain’s big baby boomer generation retiring, and policies that have benefited pensioners the most, has meant that the profile of Britain’s public spending has greyed.
“Overall pensioners have gained more than working-age households from tax and benefit decisions since 2010, while families with children have seen support fall by £780 a year.”
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She said that while both the Conservatives and Labour have a wide range of policies targeted at specific age cohorts “ultimately these policies won’t decide whether the new generation of young adults enjoys higher living standards than their predecessors”.
“That will only come from stronger economic growth,” she added.