THOUSANDS of pensioners across Oxfordshire are being squeezed into poverty by rising prices and falling returns on their savings.

Age UK Oxfordshire estimates that 14,000 of the county’s 120,000 pensioners are now living at or below the poverty line.

It comes as a new report from Prudential estimates that while inflation has averaged 3.1 per cent over the past three years, over-55s have experienced price rises of 4.6 per cent because they spend more on fuel bills and less on mortgages.

At the same time, the insurance firm warned pensioners were hit hardest because they rely on fixed incomes while prices are rising, and savings rates have collapsed to as little as 0.05 per cent.

Age UK Oxfordshire chief executive Paul Cann said: “Rising costs are a serious problem, and they degrade the quality of life for people in later life.

“Older people face a squeeze.

“Energy costs are rocketing, food does not get any cheaper, and they find they are receiving very little to live on.

“This will get worse if the pension does not change to take into account the increase in prices.

“As we go forwards into the autumn, we can only wonder about what is going to happen.”

Mr Cann warned there could be 150 unnecessary deaths among the elderly in Oxfordshire this winter.

He said: “Older people will make sacrifices.

“They will shiver, put a blanket on and keep the heating down below what is safe and proper because they are trying to scrimp.

“They are brilliant at being stoical and unselfish, and in the process, they go short.”

The charity estimates more than 40,000 pensioners across Oxfordshire leave £100m a year in housing benefit, council tax benefit and pension credit unclaimed, because they do not know they are entitled to it.

And overall, 14,000 pensioners have income of less than 60 per cent of the average income – equivalent to about £71 a week for a person living on their own.

John Hewer, 97, from Headington, said: “The increase in the price of electricity and gas is frightening really. I now have to pay out £20 a week to go the day centre, and that is a big chunk of my income.

“Everything is going up, even if it is by 5p or 10p. A pint of milk has gone up from 45p to 50p. It all adds up, and the future is not very good.”

Fellow pensioner Ron Mutton, 67, from Sunningwell, said pensioners were trapped in a “nightmare situation”.

He said: “The problem is the cost of gas, electricity and water. The prices seem to go up and up, and yet the companies’ profits are massive.

“Everyone I have spoken to agrees that even the cost of shopping for the staples of life – bread, milk, fruit and veg – has gone up as petrol costs have gone up.

“I’ve had to cut back on many things. They even rob you with the cost of a pint of beer at the end of the day.”