Triple lock torture for pensioners to last weeks
PENSIONERS have been told they must wait weeks to find out if the triple lock remains in place despite the uncertainty it is causing.
Work and Pensions Minister Laura Trott refused to apologise for the upset the latest threat to 10.1 per cent increase is causing to seniors.
More than 25,000 people have now signed the petition organised by the Daily Express and Silver-Voices calling for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to keep the lock in place.
Labour demanded the Government showed it was “truly committed” to the funding formula and apologise for “stress and uncertainty” caused by repeated U-turns over its future. Ms Trott said: “I do understand the uncertainty.”
But she said people must wait until the economic statement on November 17.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said: “Several think tanks have been nudging the Chancellor towards ending the triple lock but it would be foolhardy. The more older people are left penniless, the less they have to spend in the economy, which would further drive the country into recession.” Baroness Altmann, former pensions minister, said: “The Government must stop messing around. It must not keep pensioners waiting any longer. Just a cast-iron commitment to do the right thing, right now.”
The anguish faced by pensioners is illustrated by Rosy Smith, 71, who has shunned TV and ditched her sewing hobby to save on costs so she can visit her husband.
She lives near Amesbury, Wilts, while her husband Tony, 73, who has dementia, is in a nursing home 20 miles away.
Mrs Smith is increasingly worried about how she is going to continue to afford the journey. She said: “We have worked hard all our lives to pay into the state pension.
“Ministers should get off the fence and confirm the triple lock will be honoured.
“There are millions of us having sleepless nights about a potential cut to our income.”