A report from the think tank said older people should “share the pain of deficit reduction” as older people are no longer always poor, the BBC reports.

“All policies that appear to give special advantages to older people as a category should be reviewed,” it said.

Older people charity Age UK responded by saying more than half of pensioners do not receive enough money to pay any income tax at all.

The Fabian Society report, written by Andrew Harrop, argued that pensioners in the ‘squeezed middle’ have actually seen their incomes rise in the past few years, and “in financial terms alone, pensioners are no longer special”.

It added the government should assess evidence for existing rules on social security, tax and design of services, the BBC reports.