Campaigners fire warning shot to party leaders over pensions Triple Lock

Fears are mounting that the flagship policy's days could be numbered because of mounting costs.

A string of politicians, think tanks and analysts have said the benefit - which links the annual state pension rise to the highest of average wage rises, inflation or 2.5% - is becoming unaffordable and must be changed or even scrapped. But campaigners have warned it must be protected despite the country's economic woes.

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said: "It is depressing that, despite all-party support in their last Manifestos, we see mounting attacks on the Triple Lock in the media and from think tanks, and equivocation on its future from politicians.

"No major party leader has committed to the future of the Lock beyond 2029."

Labour's Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall last week avoided committing to the lock beyond this Parliament as she resurrected the Pensions Commission.

The New Labour era quango will look at how to tackle the issue of people failing to put enough money into their retirement savings.

Ms Kendall said that changes to the triple lock were not in scope for the Pension Commission's review, despite some Labour MPs privately saying it is no longer affordable.

Labour previously committed to maintaining the triple lock for the entirety of this parliament, despite the Office for Budget Responsibility estimating that it will be three times more expensive by the end of the decade than it was expected to be when it was introduced in 2011, costing £15.5bn by 2030.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said: "There is no doubt that the Triple Lock has helped to improve the standard of living for pensioners, and we continue to support it going forward.

"For most older people, their State Pension accounts for most of the money they have coming in, and for one in eight hard-pressed older people it is the only source of income they have.

"We know that many older people, especially those on low fixed incomes, have been truly shaken by the cost-of-living crisis, high inflation and soaring energy bills in recent years. "They often tell us how much they value the Triple Lock, and they are right to do so."

The Triple Lock is the lifeblood of our state pension system, without which the value of the state pension would be steadily degraded.

When the link with earnings was broken in the last century the value of the state pension fell to only 16% of average earnings (now about 30%) and pensioner poverty soared.

This old age poverty crisis was the reason the Triple Lock was introduced by the Coalition Government in 2011.

It is depressing that, despite all-party support in their last Manifestos, we see mounting attacks on the Triple Lock in the media and from think tanks, and equivocation on its future from politicians.

No major party leader has committed to the future of the Lock beyond 2029.

The Triple Lock does not provide older people with a life in clover.

Two thirds of pensioners receive the old state pension, receiving the princely sum of £176 per week.

If that is your sole income, you become eligible for pension credit immediately, showing that the Government accepts that it does not provide a state pension you can live on.

The Triple Lock stops this situation getting worse, and in some years provides a very marginal improvement.

But this year the Triple Lock increase of 4.1% was more than eaten up by the utility, energy and council tax increases in April.

We must also remember that the Triple Lock was suspended in the aftermath of the pandemic in 2022/23 and pensioners lost up to £500, which has never been recovered, and up to £300 from the winter fuel cancellation last year.

The consequences of removing the winter fuel payment on poor pensioner households proved how the basic state pension leaves millions on the margins of poverty.

We have first hand experience of what happens when pensions and benefits do not keep up with the cost of living, their value tails off as politicians prioritise working families over pensioners.

Winter fuel payments have not been updated since 2000 and should now stand at £381 and £571 instead of £200 and £300.

Without the security of the Triple Lock, the Treasury would turn to the state pension for savings at every opportunity.

It is outrageous that the Triple Lock is being blamed for our parlous economic situation.

The large majority of developed countries spend a much bigger proportion of their economies on their state pensions and provide, on average, proper living pensions of around two thirds of average earnings.

Of course, the Triple Lock is costing more as we have been through unprecedented pandemic and energy crises through which the whole population, including pensioners, has had to be supported.

I don't hear the £70 billion spent on the furlough scheme to support working families being blamed for our economic woes.

Silver Voices is not prepared to accept that older people and the Triple Lock should be cast as the villains and scapegoats in the debate about the unsustainability of the UK's finances.

The Triple Lock, as well as providing an essential safeguard against pensioner poverty, is symbolic of the way society values its retirees.

With the support of the Express we conducted an unrivalled campaign to save the Lock in the run-up to the last election, and we will do so again if necessary.

Politicians will tamper with the Triple Lock at their peril, as we can guarantee massive public support if we need to call on it.

A Daily Express crusade alongside Silver Voices to save the benefit has twice secured big rises in the state pension after high inflation and pay increases sparked jitters regarding its cost to taxpayers.

Nigel Farage, whose Reform UK party is leading in the polls, has previously refused to rule out scrapping the triple lock, telling reporters in May that it "is not something we've addressed as yet" but adding that Reform would do so "between now and the next election".

Mrs Badenoch also hasn't committed to the triple lock - a Tory policy from the coalition days with the Lib Dems - insisting her party's policy "hasn't changed".

Morgan Vine, Director of Policy and Influencing, at Independent Age said:

"For older people living in financial insecurity now, the Triple Lock is vital in protecting the value of their often dangerously low income.

"We know that almost two million older people are living in poverty, and a million more are teetering on the edge.

"Any cuts to the Triple Lock now, without an alternative plan in place, would take away much needed money from older people in financial hardship. The people we speak to can't afford to lose anything."

But retirement experts have said the triple lock may have to "evolve".

Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement Helen Morrissey, said: "Over the longer term we may well see the triple lock evolve - one option could be for it to move towards being a double lock instead."

Calum Cooper, head of Pensions Policy Innovation at Hymans Robertson, said: "We estimate it should be replaced in the 2030s - it's a question of when, not if."