§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 13 February
Quintiles of the Income distribution Bottom fifth Next fifth Middle fifth Next fifth Top fifth Overall mean Net income before housing costs Pensioner couples 136 171 211 274 476 282 Single pensioners 78 107 132 164 231 151 Net income after housing costs Pensioner couples 123 150 184 261 464 262 Single pensioners 61 85 104 132 198 127 Notes:
1. The estimates are from the Pensioners' Incomes Series 2000–01, which uses data from the Family Resources Survey 2000–01, and is the latest year for which results are available. The survey covers Great Britain and does not include people living in residential care or nursing homes.
2. Incomes are in £ per week and are at 2000–01 prices.
3. Estimates have been rounded to the nearest 1.
4. Single pensioners are defined as single (non-cohabiting) people over state pension age (65 and over for men, 60 and over for women). Pensioner couples are defined as couples (married or cohabiting) where the man is over state pension age.
5. Pensioner units are allocated to an age category according to the age of the head. The head of a couple is defined as the man.
6. The distribution of income is based on unequivalised net income (unequivalised income refers to the actual cash amount directly received by pensioner units), and has been calculated separately under the before and after housing costs measures of income. The distribution of income has also been calculated separately for singles and couples, e.g. estimates for pensioner couples show income for each quintile of the pensioner couples' income distribution.
7. As with data from any survey, these estimates should not be treated as exact as they are subject to sampling error. In particular, great care should be taken when comparing groups with similar incomes since random sampling fluctuations mean that estimates should be regarded as a broad indication of trends only.