Saga has welcomed the Bank of England's (BoE) decision not to opt for a further round of quantitative easing (QE) as it provided a brief respite for pensioners' who have seen their retirement income slashed by the policy.

In its latest monthly meeting, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted against pumping more money into the economy via QE.

In total, the government has created £325 billion through QE and Saga has attributed the fiscal policy to a reduction in annuity rates.

Dr Ros Altmann, director general of Saga, said: "QE has decimated corporate pension funds, forcing some firms into bankruptcy while others have had to divert resources into supporting their pension schemes rather than business expansion.

"On top of this, QE has reduced over a million pensioners' incomes via annuity and drawdown income falls.  These effects destroy jobs or growth."

Dr Altmann added that advisers should be "shouting from the rooftops" about the dangers of QE before further damage is done.

QE hits annuity rates as the policy sees the government purchase bonds, known as gilts, from banks and results in a fall in their interest rates. As these gilts are then used to pay for annuities, QE causes yields to fall and therefore can lead to a reduction in retirement income.