The average weekly pensioner income declined slightly between 2009/10 and 2017/18, from £307 to £304, according to research from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

In its study, Pensioners’ Incomes Series: An analysis of trends in Pension Incomes: 1994/95 to 2017/18, the DWP found that average weekly incomes for pensioners had nearly flat-lined over the past eight years.

However, it had increased significantly from 1994/95's level of £161.

Income from occupational pensions was 29 per cent of total income for pensioner couples and 25 per cent for single pensioners.

For recently retired pensioners, this figure was 26 per cent, whilst it was 29 per cent for pensioners not categorised as recently retired.

Average occupational pension income was higher for the younger age groups, although these groups also have higher overall incomes, which resulted in the percentage contribution of their occupational pension income being smaller.

Older pensioners, aged 75 or over, on average had £82 a week more in retirement income than younger pensioners.

Almost all (97 per cent) of pensioners were in receipt of the state pension in 2017/18, a slight increase from 2007/08, when 95 per cent of pensioners were state pension recipients.

Commenting on the publication, Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst, Nathan Long said: “The state pension and income from company pensions has helped ensure pensioner income’s flat-lining, not falling.

“More people are now receiving money from personal pensions, but having to take personal ownership of your money is a fairly new concept so the pay-out from these pots remains small.”

Semi-retirement was shown to be slowly growing in popularity, with 17 per cent of pensioners receiving employment income in 2017/18 compared to 12 per cent in 1997/98.

However, the amount they are earning has fallen over time, with the median pensioner income from employment falling from its peak at £372 per week in 2010/11 compared to £339 today.

Single male pensioners had higher average incomes than single female pensioners in 2017/18. Single men had an average weekly income of £233, while single women had an average income of £206.

Low cash rates contributed to a drop in the proportion of pensioners receiving income from savings and investments, it decreased from 73 per cent of pensioners in 1994/95 to 60 per cent today.

Long added: “There’s yet more evidence that pensioners are being punished as a result of quantitative easing, with income from savings and investments on the slide.

“Pensioners who are holding money as cash could look to the stock market for income, the average UK equity income fund currently offers an income of 4.8 per cent.”

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