Rutherglen Reformer

Pension changes will hit our elderly hard

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- JONATHAN GEDDES

South Lanarkshir­e pensioners have been“betrayed”by the scrapping of the pensions triple lock, according to Rutherglen’s MSP.

More than a quarter of residents in the region will be affected by the proposed change, which will be in effect for a year.

A total of 28,955 people in South Lanarkshir­e will be affected, making up 26 per cent of the total population for the area.

They will be losing out on an average of £520 next year.

The UK Government – which previously made a manifesto promise that they would not alter the triple lock – says it has been forced into the move because distortion­s to wages during Covid-19 mean pensioners would have received a rise of as much as eight percent – an extra £3 billion – while many workers are dealing with job losses, salary cuts and pay freezes during the pandemic.

It has, instead, tried to alter the state pension so that it will rise by the highest out of 2.5 per cent and inflation next year, instead of earnings growth which is estimated to be at around eight per cent.

The move has sparked fury among campaigner­s, who claim that poorer pensioners will be hit the hardest by the changes, and the House of Lords have already blocked the proposal and voted to send it back to the House of Commons.

Rutherglen MSP Clare Haughey has slammed the proposal.

She said: “Under Westminste­r control, Scotland’s pensioners already have among the least generous pensions in north west Europe and now the Tories are making the situation even worse.

“As the details of Rishi Sunak’s budget continue to come to light, there can be no doubt that he has betrayed South Lanarkshir­e pensioners.

“Despite the shockingly low existing state pension level, the Chancellor thinks it’s wise to make matters even worse by scrapping the triple lock and freezing the benefits older people rely on.

“It defies logic.

“After a decade of UK Government austerity, millions of pensioners across the

UK are now living in poverty – and things are set to get even tougher under this Tory government.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said: “As we have sought to protect lives, so we sought to protect livelihood­s and to mitigate the worst impacts we introduced £407bn package of support including the furlough and self-employment schemes to support incomes.

“Neverthele­ss, last year we saw earnings fall by one percentage point.

“In response, we legislated to set aside the earnings link allowing me to award an uprating of 2.5 per cent as this was higher than inflation.

“If we had not done this state pension would have been frozen.”

“This year as restrictio­ns have lifted and we experience­d an irregular statistica­l spike in earnings over the uprating review period I am clear that another one-year adjustment is needed.”

Ms Coffey added that the move: “will also ensure that as we are having to make difficult decisions elsewhere across public spending, including freezing public sector pay, pensioners are not unfairly benefittin­g from a statistica­l anomaly.”

 ?? ?? Less to spend Pensioners in South Lanarkshir­e will lose out on an average of £520 a year under the changes
Less to spend Pensioners in South Lanarkshir­e will lose out on an average of £520 a year under the changes
 ?? ?? Betrayed Clare Haughey MSP says the changes will hit pensioners hard
Betrayed Clare Haughey MSP says the changes will hit pensioners hard

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