The plight of pensioners is being examined by Neville Dean at the Western Morning News.

He’s spent a week trying to live on the basic state pension.

He was prompted to act after social security minister Jeff Rooker admitted he could not live on the basic pension.

With income support this is now pitched at £78.45 a week and there is mounting pressure for a pre-election give-away to pensioners.

But for Neville, it was still the £78.45. Minus heating costs, minus his council tax, phone bills, clothing and an amount for household goods.

Careful ‘weighting’ calculations by Age Concern whittled his spending money for food and living down to a more realistic £26.

He told readers in the first of a series of articles: “Before joining the Western Morning News I was a student for four years so I have had more than a little experience of living life on the breadline.

“For the purposes of this test I’m assuming I own and live in my own home (if I was in rented accommodation I would be able to claim benefits to cover the cost), so Age Concern only allows a housing cost of £6.21 to cover the repairs.

“That leaves me with exactly £20.25 for food, transport, luxuries like newspapers and of course, “entertainment”.”

He made the first priority food. But getting involved with the social side of being a pensioner – all part of the deal – would stretch his finances further.

Although later in the week the prospect of a “meat and two veg” meal at the drop-in centre was something to look forward to.

His Tesco shopping basket included tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, bread, cheese and pasta – and only came to £11.29. But it was still early days.

But a weekend of “spag bol” and limp ham sandwiches cast something of a shadow.

He chatted with pensioners at the Age Concern centre, discovering tales of funeral insurance cashed in for a stairlift, another lady whose pension goes into the bank to cover bills, again leaving just £20 a week to live on.

He even had to go without pudding – even with all that lovely custard – because it was an extra 85p.

What will become of Neville? Will he end up sequence dancing? Check back next week to find out more.

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