How close do benefits get people to minimum incomes?
For pensioners who take up the pension credit, very close: the minimum income level in the credit is similar to the minimum income standard. However, many do not take it up. The basic retirement pension falls well short. Most other benefits are also well short of minimum income standards. For a single out-of-work adult without children, benefits give less than half of the standard. Benefits in such families have not changed for a generation, while general living standards have shot up. State help for families with children has gone up in recent years, but on benefits you are still likely to get less than two-thirds of what you need to reach this standard.