How much do you need for an acceptable standard of living?

This is all "happy news" for impoverished pensioners. May be someone will tell them how they are to even exist on the State Pension (about £5200 a year, plus any supplementary amount if they qualify) but if they heeded the government and 'saved for their old age' then they have been swindled out of a decent interest rate to allow the negligent bankers and others to top up their coffers so they can get their fat salaries and disgusting bonuses. Conned again.
Suggestion. Be wise, live your life in social housing, spend all you can earn/get from the state in benefits, then extract every possible benefit when you reach retirement age. A bonus: tax free!

Difficult to say, being married and living in a village in SE England with almost no bus service.

Looking at the figures I calculate that, after taking care of fixed costs (tax, car, rates, water, electricity, gas, etc), and assuming no mortgage repayment, there would be just under £570 per month to cover all living expenses i.e. just under £11 per week.

Hell. I couldn't exist of less than £200K.

Anything less than that would be a nightmare.

Do you have to pay mortgage for your detached house?

i COULDN'T HAVE PUT IT BETTER MYSELF- I FEEL TOTALLY CONNED/UNDERVALUED FOR HAVING WORKED HARD/BROUGHT UP A FAMILY/TRIED TO SAVE FOR RETIREMENT

Add up all the MP's salaries and perks and get the average, then that is what we should be getting as an average wage. Afterall, MP's are non productive and earn nothing.

I don't do the social scene in terms of pubs, clubs, restaurants, gym etc and I haven't had a holiday for five years. The reason why is all my "spare" cash and savings goes on the upkeep of my horse, who lots of people would say is a real luxury but surely in this age of diversity and inclusion how individuals choose to spend their 'spare' cash and time is personal? A large percentage of horse owners earn less than £10k a year so we're not all idle rich.

YOU ARE HAVING A LAUGHT AREN'T YOU?????

It's really all relevant, isn't it? -whether you've £20, £200 or £2k a week to live off, most live accordingly
What I've never understood is why the Gov. say that if you're 59 and 364 days old, you need only half of what you need the next day, i.e when a person reaches 60 the benefit is doubled and free transport pass means no bus/train fares which means being able to travel a bit further afield and hopefully be able pick up a few bargains - mainly food in my case. Having lived and worked in a 3rd world country with no 'safety net' when you find yourself out of work, I've found that British people in general have no idea of how well off they are. Everything is cheap here - nothing wrong with supermarkets own brands esp. food, or Primark for clothing, and the Pound shops are a great place for finding things you need but never see elsewhere.or, if you do, they are 10 times the price.
I can't understand how anyone CANNOT live on £130 per week [for a single pensioner]and NOT also save, yet, unfortunately, I've met far too many who can't [or won't] .

i could not agree with you more Not Complaining. My mum as a single parent brought three kids up on about 11,000 a year max. and we never went without (well maybe gameboys and playstations, but never anything important)!
we also spent half our childhood in china, where i moved back for three years when i was 18- i was living on 70 a month there (obv all relative). i am now back in the uk as a student and working 15 hrs a week as a cashier, and the richest iv ever been!! i can save, i live very comfortably(finally bought that playstation:D), and dont want any more...
it really does just seem to me that people really dont have any concept of 'poverty'. i really cannot relate to the mentality that if you cant afford a wii then you're in some kind of financial hardship. its about priorities and choices!!!!

Being serious the basic state pension for a single person is £97 a week. On that you are supposed to be able to live. How, I do not know!

I have an occupational pension unlike 31% of the retired who live on the basic state pension. That number will increase rapidly now the fat cat directors have opted out of mrtgage provision.

Personally I live very frugally, no holidays, no nights out. Luxury one car. I survive well enough. I did make the mistake of saving for my retirement which I am fast learning was not a good idea. It seems it cuts you out of all the payments the governemtn claims to make.

My big concern is how long can we go on having one of the worst state pension schemes in Europe? Is the plan to increase mortality to a high level with people starving/freezing to death? You do wonder! And yes, I do realise other countries have people who are in a worse way. But I happen to believe charity should begin at home!

you need to take a course in economics

Unbelievable! No poverty in this country? We have teenagers living on our streets, children eating less than one meal a day, families living in unheated 1 bedroom damp and uninhabitable bedsits, working adults earning substantially less than required to house, clothe and feed themselves and their families not to mention the elderly generation who are afraid to turn on heating because it is too expensive! I am a volunteer (and have a full time job) and have seen some desperately impoverished individuals (not all drug addicts or single mothers!) and the suffering of children in this country.
I agree, we do not have the level of poverty as seen in other countries of the world - yet poverty DOES exist in this country!
Please, please do not assume that because you are comfortable (albeit struggling) that everyone else is too.
It may not be our God-Given right to expect increased standards - but it is our God-Given choice to help those around us whose standards of living are considerably poor and if that means that those of us who are poverty - open our eyes and actually look and we will see the suffering of others and they didn't deserve that!