Analysts are warning state pension payments will “spiral out of control” unless the Triple Lock is changed.
State pensioners have been issued a worrying Triple Lock update – after Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves was urged to “introduce mean testing”. Analysts are warning state pension payments will “spiral out of control” unless the Triple Lock is changed.
Analysts have noted that Labour has “repeatedly ruled out looking at the state pension” but Edmund Greaves, the editor of Mouthy Money, has warned that without significant reforms, the burden on taxpayers could spiral “out of control”.
He explained: “Labour has repeatedly ruled out looking at the state pension and whether affordability measures could be introduced, such as limited means testing or watering down the triple lock.
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“It is telling that yet again today Reeves has ignored the issue. The simple truth is the state pension is unsustainable in its current guise. The state pension is paid for by taxpayers. As our population ages, we have less taxpayers paying for more pensioners.
“Unless the Government introduces means testing, the triple lock will cause payments to spiral out of control and the burden will balloon while the tax base shrinks.
“But the Government doesn’t want to means test and keeps on refuting or ignoring the problem. It’s only option instead will be to keep increasing the age future generations can get state pension.
“It’s already set to rise to 70 for younger workers and isn’t going to go the other way. Be it Labour or Tory, the Government isn’t being honest because it is just trying to finesse decades of unsustainable political promises.”
He said: “Our message to anyone working today and saving for retirement is don’t hope and wait for the state pension when you’re old, because it probably won’t be there thanks to the failure to reform it and make it sustainable. Instead, make a plan today for your future, take it into your own hands.”
The amount of State Pension you get increases in April each year. The triple lock means the rise will either match the rate of inflation, average earnings or 2.5% – whichever is highest.
