COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The "triple-lock" on state pensions - which has protected the incomes of the older generation since 2010 - should be scrapped, a committee of MPs has said.



The triple-lock guarantees that pensions rise by the same as average earnings, the consumer prices index or 2.5%, whichever is the highest.

But MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee say that continuing with it would be "unfair and unsustainable".

The government said it was committed to the triple-lock until 2020 at least.

As a result of the policy, the state pension has risen by a relatively generous £1,100 since 2010, with an increase of 2.9% in April this year.

But the MPs said that while pensioners had done well out of the triple-lock, young people had suffered unfairly.

"At the same time as tightening their belts, they are being asked to support a group that has fared relatively well in recent years," said Frank Field, the chair of the committee.

"It is time for the triple-lock to be shelved," said Mr Field.

To replace it, the MPs are proposing to link pensions only to earnings - but with greater generosity if inflation is higher.

They recommend that in 2020, when the triple-lock ends, there should be a benchmark for the State Pension, depending on its level at that time.

Currently the new state pension is worth £155 a week, which represents 24% of average earnings.

Theresa May weighing up cheaper 'double lock' for pensions


Her Majesty the Prime Minister

Theresa May is seriously considering replacing the “triple lock”, which guarantees a minimum increase in the state pension each year, with a less generous “double lock”, and spending some of the money saved on social care.

The existing system guarantees that the basic state pension will increase each year by whichever is the largest of inflation, average earnings, or 2.5%, but it has become expensive to fund during a period when prices and wages growth have been low.

It is understood that Downing Street is weighing up whether a more affordable “double lock”, which removed the 2.5% minimum annual rise, would be politically sellable.

May hinted that the policy, introduced under the coalition, was under review at prime minister’s questions. She would only say that “pension incomes would continue to increase” under a Conservative government, in response to a direct question on the future of the triple lock from SNP’s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson.

Labour would leap on the abandonment of the triple lock as a raid on pensioners’ finances. Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s campaigns chief, said on Wednesday: “At today’s prime minister’s questions, Theresa May talked about the triple lock like it’s a thing of the past and, under the Conservatives, it risks being consigned to history.”

Labour has promised to uphold the triple lock in a deliberate play for older voters, who overwhelmingly backed the Tories in 2015, and shadow chancellor John McDonnell included the promise on “pensioners’ pledge cards”, launched earlier this month.