Rising food prices hit UK pensioners hardest: Research

The rising cost of essentials such as food in Britain has affected pensioners the hardest, a new research shows.

According to the study, conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), more than 1.5 million over 65s in the UK are “malnourished or at risk of malnutrition” as they are struggling to afford nutritious food, the Sky News first reported on Friday.
The research found that over a quarter (22 per cent) of the elderly in Britain have been forced to cut back on food over the past three years.
The study also predicted that those Britons aged over 65 will spend £699 in average on food between October and December this year. The figure shows an increase of £138 when compared with the same quarter in 2008.
Moreover, the average annual food bill for older people in the UK was calculated to rise by an additional £297 by 2018.
“The people who brought this country along are being neglected badly and I think it’s disgusting the way things have been left, honestly and truthfully,” said Danny Woolcott, a retired mechanic from Southall, West London.
A recent study from Prestige Purchasing, a leading supplier to the restaurant trade in the UK, revealed that food prices in Britain will rise faster than the country’s inflation rate until at least 2018.
The Conlumino retail consultancy also predicted food bills in the UK to increase by almost 20 per cent over the next five years.
Estimates of a rise in food prices come at a time when many Britons are struggling with food poverty.