Cameron: Tories will keep pension 'triple lock' guarantee

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Cameron: Tories will keep pension 'triple lock' guarantee

Postby dutchman » Sun Jan 05, 2014 12:40 am

A future Conservative government will protect the basic state pension after the next election by keeping the coalition’s "triple lock" guarantee to increase payments each year, David Cameron will pledge on Sunday.

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The Prime Minister will confirm that the state pension will rise every year in line with wages, prices or by 2.5 per cent - whichever is highest – until at least 2020 if the Tories are returned to office.

Mr Cameron is also promising to put the economic recovery at the heart of his plan for the next 12 months in order to make 2014 the year when Britain shows it is "on the rise again".

The pledges are part of an economic strategy which the Prime Minister hopes will give millions of people the financial security to "fulfil their dreams".

The Conservatives say they want to reward elderly people who have worked hard all their lives by protecting their standards of living in retirement.

Campaigners have warned that pensioners have seen their private savings hit by record low interest rates and the Bank of England’s policy of printing money, known as "quantitative easing".

Charities working with the elderly have also criticised plans to raise the state pension age to 67 by 2028, which they say will hit workers who lose their jobs in their 50s and 60s, while the Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement last month that the state pension age would rise further to 68 in the mid-2030s and 69 by the late 2040s.

Speaking ahead of an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme today, the Prime Minister said: "I am determined to give people who have worked hard and done the right thing during their working lives real security and peace of mind in retirement.

"We are only able do this because we are taking the difficult decisions to tackle the deficit and put our economy back on the right path - unlike Labour who would devastate Britain’s economy with more borrowing, more spending and more debt."

Under the coalition’s "triple lock", the state pension rose by 5.2 per cent in 2012 - or £5.30, the largest cash rise ever seen, and by £2.70 last year, to £110.15 per week.

Mr Cameron will seek to contrast this record with that of the last Labour government, which saw pensioners given annual increases of as little as 75p a week. Labour has also signalled that it intends to include pension spending in the party’s proposed cap on welfare costs, a move which the Tories say could see the pension cut.

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Re: Cameron: Tories will keep pension 'triple lock' guarantee

Postby rebbonk » Sun Jan 05, 2014 6:28 am

Camoron's pledges are worth zilch! :fuming: :fuming: :fuming:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
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Re: Cameron: Tories will keep pension 'triple lock' guarantee

Postby dutchman » Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:24 pm

David Cameron preparing to decide on winter fuel cuts

David Cameron is considering calls for the Conservatives to withdraw benefits like the winter fuel payment from wealthy pensioners in the next Parliament.

Several Conservative ministers are understood to have urged the Prime Minister to abandon his previous commitment to maintain universal pensioner benefits like winter payments and free bus passes.

Opponents say policies that give benefits to even extremely rich pensioners can longer be justified. But Mr Cameron is said to be “attracted” to maintaining a commitment to payments that other parties have pledged to cut.

Mr Cameron has begun rolling out Conservative promises to pensioners by promising to continue increasing the basic state pension by at least 2.5 per cent and in line with the highest of inflation and earnings.

Continuing the “triple lock” on pensions constitutes a major financial commitment for any future Conservative government, one that Labour has so far declined to match.

"I want people when they reach retirement to know that they can have dignity and security in their old age,” Mr Cameron told the BBC.

“People who have worked hard, who have done the right thing, who have provided for their families, they should then know they will get a decent state pension.”

But even as Mr Cameron gave a firm pledge on the basic state pension, he signalled his party’s position on pensioner benefits like winter fuel could change. The annual winter payment is made at a flat rate of up to £300, regardless of a person’s wealth.

Mr Cameron fought the last election on a personal promise not to cut pensioner benefits, a promise he has kept despite pressure from his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and Conservatives including Iain Duncan Smith, the pensions secretary.

Labour has also called for winter fuel payments to be withdrawn from the richest pensioners.

Asked if would continue his protection for pensioner benefits in 2015, Mr Cameron replied: “We will set our plans at the next election in our manifesto.”

Despite the growing political consensus for reform, Downing Street insisted that Mr Cameron has not yet accepted the case for change.

He will make a final decision on the Conservative Party’s position later this year, sources said.

“The PM is attracted to the policy [of maintaining universal benefits] but he is not going to rule on it yet,” a No 10 source said.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have already said they would take benefits away from some better-off pensioners.

Pledging to maintain the benefits might boost the Conservatives’ support among older voters, who are more likely to turn out at the polls than any other age group.

Cutting winter fuel payments would also have only a limited impact on the public finances.

According to Government figures published last year withdrawing winter fuel payments from pensioners paying higher rates of tax would save £105 million a year.

By contrast, the basic state pension costs almost £100 billion a year.

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Bus passes are already being phased-out for people over 60 but under the new state pension age. It would not surprise me if the same rule wa applied to winter heating payments and prescription charges as well. :roll:
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