MORE HELP FOR PENSIONERS AS PENSION RISES ARE ANNOUNCED

The state pension will rise for single people from next April, it was announced today.

Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb said the pension for a single person will rise by £4.50 to £102.15 a week.

Single people on the pensions credit would receive an above-earnings increase to their minimum guarantee of £4.75 to take their weekly income to £137.35.

For couples, the increase on their minimum guarantee would be £7.30, taking their new total to £209.70 a week, Steve Webb said in a Commons statement.

Steve Webb said the Government believed it was "right" to move to the consumer price index (CPI) for uprating additional state pensions, public and private pensions and social security benefits.

But he conceded: "I do acknowledge that over the long-term the CPI tends to rise more slowly than the RPI but the question of course is not which is the higher or lower number, it is which is the most appropriate way to track and measure the changes in average prices.

Mr Webb had earlier told MPs: "At a time when the nations' finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £4.3 billion in 2011/12 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases."

RESOURCES ON HUDDLE