Instead of boosting the British economy, the Bank of England's quantitative easing (QE) initiative is, in fact, acting as a "killer blow" to the millions of people in retirement, it has been claimed.

Simon Rose from Save Our Savers was commenting on the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) recent decision to increase the asset purchase programme by £50 billion to £325 billion.

He argued this, along with the decision to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent, has no real benefit to the economy.

Furthermore, it will only serve to reduce annuity rates even further, Mr Rose continued. He explained that while 20 years ago a pension pot of £100,000 would have provided individuals with an income of £15,640 for later life, this has now dipped to £5,800, with further losses on the horizon.

"Does the Bank really believe that impoverishing pensioners is the way to bring about growth? No doubt Sir Mervyn King, with a pension pot of £5.36 million, will be less affected than the majority of people," Mr Rose continued.

Gilt yields are also at a record low and because pension funds are connected to the income from these gilts, there will not be enough money to support those approaching retirement both now and in the future, Save Our Savers stated.

Pensioners also face higher rates of inflation than younger people due to the fact they spend more of their income on commodities such as food and fuel. Mr Rose suggested QE will "stoke up inflation" even further - giving older individuals something else to contend with.

However, in a statement published on February 9th, the MPC claimed inflation has fallen from the peak reached in September 2011 and will continue to decline "sharply" over the coming months.

Mr Rose concluded by saying those in retirement are "barely surviving as it is" and the decisions being made by the MPC, as well as low interest rates, are doing nothing to solve this problem.