When did The Guardian descend to outright lying?

Yes, obviously, differences of views, different angles from which to observe the world and all that. But outright lying is a new one on us:

Cost of living crisis: UK benefits plunge to lowest value in 50 years

There is no manner in which that is possibly true.

Pensioners and benefits claimants will see the value of their payments fall to the lowest point in 50 years on Monday, anti-poverty campaigners have said,

It’s simply a lie.

Just one example. The 1972 state pension for a single person was £6 a week. Upgrade by real value and that’s £80.93 now. The income value - ie, showing how incomes in general have risen over that time - is £150.20 a week. As The Guardian tells us, the new state pension is £185.15 a week, the basic is £141.85. Both of which are, we really are certain of this, markedly higher than £80.93.

How did we get to the point that a major newspaper runs untruths like this? Or, perhaps worse, to the point where the people who write it are too ignorant to understand this point?

Yes, yes, we grasp that it’s “anti-poverty campaigners” who are originally making the statement. But are journalists these days really so innumerate that they can’t see through that statement?