The rate of inflation experienced by elderly people is more than a third higher than the headline rate, according to one organisation.

Releasing its monthly Age and Inflation Alert today, the Alliance Trust argues that, while the official rate of inflation stood at 2.5 per cent in May, the level of inflation faced by those over 75 is significantly higher at 3.4 per cent.

Both the headline rate and elderly inflation rates fell back in May, Alliance Trust suggests, before which the inflation rate for the elderly was pegged at an estimated 4.0 per cent.

Shona Dobbie, head of the Alliance Trust Research Centre, said: "Our four-year study continues to highlight the extent to which the UK's elderly are the group hit hardest by current high levels of inflation.

"Any household which spends a large proportion of its budget on basic goods and services is currently facing a higher rate of inflation than the headline CPI suggests."

She added that, while utility costs are falling, increases in food costs are maintaining high pressure on older people.

In recent days a study from Help the Aged has suggested that the majority of older people do not feel that their lives have improved in the last year.