Pensions prospects are "bleaker" than they have been before, according to the National Pensioners Convention (NPC).

More pensioners could struggle with debt management because they are forced to rely on the state pension alone in the economic crisis, it has been suggested.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, national officer for the NPC, explained that nearly £200 billion had been wiped off private pension pots in the economic crisis, leaving many facing a financial headache.

He said: "Not only because of the current economic crisis and the pressures of that, but also the future generations won’t have some of the company pension schemes that their parents may have had.

"What you are going to find is that future generations will need to rely more on the state pension to help them through their retirement."

Figures from the NPC show that the number of people living on in severe poverty in the UK increased by 600,000 between 1997 and 2006.

Meanwhile, the poorest quarter of pensioner households saw their incomes rise by less than one per cent last year.

The current full basic State Pension increased from £90.70 to £95.25 on April 6th, which was inline with the September Retail Prices Index rise.