Pensioners should lose triple lock, says ministerial memo
OLDER people should lose the guaranteed annual rises in the state pension, according to a secret memo written by the former pensions minister.
Baroness Altmann, who drafted the proposal before she stepped down from the Government this month, said the Conservatives should be brave and drop the “triple lock”, a key manifesto pledge under which the state pension rises by inflation, average earnings, or a minimum of 2.5 per cent each year.
The document warned that continuing to commit to the pensions guarantee would be unaffordable if the economy suffered in the years ahead.
Last night, the Government declined to rule out scrapping the triple lock.
The policy was a central plank of the Tories’ election manifesto last year.
A government source described the idea that the triple lock could be abolished as “speculation”.
However, the new Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Nick Timothy, has criticised the policy of protecting benefits for pensioners and argued that the Tories should help “ordinary people”.
Before the EU referendum, David Cameron and George Osborne warned that a Brexit vote could hurt the economy so severely that they would be forced to review the triple lock guarantee and pensioners’ benefits, such as bus passes and winter fuel allowances.
Lady Altmann revealed that she sent a memo to Mr Osborne, who was chancellor, stating that the guarantee had “fulfilled its purpose” as pensioners’ incomes had caught up with the rest of the population as a result of the triple lock. Instead, pensions should be protected with a “double lock” promise that payments would rise in line with average earnings or inflation, whichever is higher, she said.
Scrapping the triple lock could save the Government more money than raising the state pension age so people work for longer before retirement, she added.