Who can begrudge our £3.05 pension increase?
Do the people who want to abandon the ‘triple lock’ on the basic state pension realise how very small an amount it is? It delivers a minimum of 2½ per cent of the basic pension of £122.30 and amounts to only £3.05 a week. If you’re a salaried MP, that 2.5 per cent would give you £34 a week extra. even if you’re on the basic wage of £26,000 a year, a 2.5 per cent increase would mean an extra £12.50 a week. how can anyone begrudge pensioners a mere £3.05 a week when they’re on a fixed income? My private pension scheme has had to restrict its yearly increase due to poor returns on investments. over the past five years, my private pension has increased by just 63p a week each year — not even enough to buy a loaf of bread. So the ‘triple lock’ — which guarantees to increase the state pension every year by whatever is highest between inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent — has been a lifesaver to enable me and, I’m sure, many others to keep, albeit with difficulty, paying our way and keeping out of debt. electricity, gas, water/sewerage rates, telephone, petrol, car, house and contents insurance have all risen substantially. I haven’t had a holiday for six years, even in the UK, and have never been able to afford a holiday abroad. In your 80s, you can’t go out and get a job to help support yourself so the ‘triple lock’ increase is a lifesaver and, hopefully, enables us to live out the remainder of our lives with a small amount of dignity and not need a care home. I hope we can stop talking about percentages and get round to the reality of the exact amount that the percentage shows.