A “question” remains over the triple lock, which was introduced by the previous coalition government between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party.
State pensioners have been warned a rule dating back 15 years could be SCRAPPED by the Department for Work and Pensions. A “question” remains over the triple lock, which was introduced by the previous coalition government between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party.
Rachel Vahey, the head of public policy at AJ Bell, noted that UK pensioners “should see a sizeable increase to their state pension, of almost £500 a year, to bring the full new state pension to just under £12,000 from April”.
The Government hopes this rise will “publicly reinforce its commitment to the triple-lock guarantee,” according to Vahey. Vahey said: “Criticism of the decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment for all pensioners except those that receive Pension Credit still lingers.”
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“Many others will still be reeling from the £200 most pensioners lost this winter,” Vahey said. “The state pension will be at a level perilously close to the personal allowance and should overtake it in a couple of years if things continue, thanks to frozen tax thresholds,” Vahey explained.
“It could be that this fast-approaching crunch time means the government will finally be forced to address the question of how much the state pension should really offer, at what age, and how it can increase payments sustainably each year,” Vahey added.
Sir Steve Webb – who served as pensions minister during the coalition government and signed off the triple lock in 2010 – said the policy could be replaced with a system whereby pensioners were paid a fraction of average wages.
He suggested this could be as low as a third.
The triple lock ensures the state pension rises by the highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5pc each year. Its future has been in doubt following the revelation that Labour’s new pensions minister, Torsten Bell, advocated replacing the triple lock in 2020.
