Concerns over pensions and prices for city centre shoppers, traders and workers

There had been a large level of uncertainty around the status of the state pension following reports that pensions would not rise with inflation, but with the average wage growth of 5.5 per cent.

However, it was announced before Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday by the Prime Minister Liz Truss that the state pension would rise in line with inflation, maintaining the long-standing Conservative policy of the triple-lock.

The triple-lock ensures pension payments are lifted by the highest of either price rises (inflation), the average growth of earnings or 2.5 per cent a year.

While this means that pensions are set to rise in line with inflation, which stands at 10 per cent, the figure for average earnings sits at 5.4 per cent.

For people shopping and working in Wolverhampton, there were a mixture of feelings about the future, with some worried about how they were able to live, while others said they were finding ways to deal with the current crisis.

Alan Newbould from Wednesfield was visiting Wolverhampton Market and said his finances were good and he agreed with the decision to stick with triple-lock pensions.

The 83-year-old said: "At the moment, my finances are alright and while I don't know the full impact of the price rises, I know I'll be paying more for my heating, but I live on my own, so it's not a problem.

"My pension isn't going to be massively affected by this and I thought the triple-lock was the right idea in the first place.

"If I'm honest, we always seem to hear about how we should be tightening our belts and things are bad and I think that if you're sensible, you're sensible and if you're not, then you don't get by."

Liaqat and Hajji Tarakhal run a fruit and vegetable store in the market called Kabul Fruit and Veg and the father and son said they had heard from a lot of older customers about the issues they were facing.

The 24-year-old Liaqat said: "It's been quite difficult for a lot of people and there is a real strain on finances at present, so a lot of our customers have said that they are looking for more stability with their money and their pensions."

The 57-year-old Hajji said: "I hope that when I get to claim my pension that things will have calmed down as it is getting very expensive to live at the moment."

Across the city centre in St Peter's House Cafe, retiree Susan Bowden was volunteering her time behind the counter and the 72-year-old said she was concerned for how inflation would hit other people.

She said: "If you're a pensioner, price rises are never good and the pensions don't cover a lot and while I'm fortunate that I have a state pension and a private pension, there are a lot of people who are going to struggle.

"We're all in the same boat, of course, and there's every chance that there could be another u-turn, such as on the mini-budget, so everything they sold themselves on and said they were going to do has changed.

"I've still got to think about what I'm spending and while I'm ok at the moment, I still have to think about utilities, petrol and food and whether my pension will even cover that."