Pensioners who rely on a state pension spend less on their weekly grocery shopping than the average Brit spends on dining out in a week.

Research by Virgin Money highlighted the financial difficulties facing UK OAP’s on state pension benefits, with an average of £20.73 to spend per week on food shopping. The average Brit, on the other hand, spends over £27 per week at bars and restaurants alone.

This is bad news for those who are currently working but have put away little or no money for retirement and are planning to rely on a state pension. Virgin Money says research has shown 21% of British workers (more than 8 million people) still don’t have any pension provision at all. Government changes to pension rules, to be introduced on 6th April 2006, are intended to encourage an increase in pensions savings.

“Over a fifth of pensioner households in Britain are living on a pittance, barely managing to afford life’s essentials like food and drink,” said Jason Wyer-Smith, spokesperson for Virgin Money. “We’re asking the 8 million Brits who aren’t saving anything for their retirement if they could live on a pensioner’s shopping basket not just for one week, but every week, because at the moment that’s the retirement they’re headed for.”