She said there were 1.7 million older people living in income poverty and 6 million in fuel poverty.

But it also found that the national living wage had 'led to a 2 percentage point fall in absolute income poverty among low-paid employees in 2016-17'.

Recent debates have centered on the need for policies that focus on both income poverty and asset poverty.

Relative income poverty, for example, looks at the percentage of the population that earns less in comparison to average earnings.

Unlike income poverty, asset poverty incorporates the measure of wealth and transformative assets.