The good news: Triple lock saved
State pension up by £870 to help elderly keep pace with inflation
OLDER people will receive the biggest ever increase in the state pension next year.
Millions of pensioners will see their retirement income rise by £870 after the Government decided to keep the ‘triple lock’ pledge.
It means that pensions will rise by 10.1 per cent from April, in line with soaring inflation rather than by wages which are running at a far lower rate.
The move will take the weekly basic state pension from £141 to £156 a week and means ministers will not break a long-standing Tory manifesto pledge, in the hope voters will rewards the party at the next election.
However, it will cost taxpayers billions more and there have been questions about why the wealthiest pensioners should receive the record boost as the state pension is not means-tested.
Ending weeks of uncertainty, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced at the end of his Autumn Statement to the Commons: ‘The cost of living crisis is harming not just poor pensioners but all pensioners.
‘So, because we have taken difficult decisions elsewhere in this statement, I can today announce that we will fulfil our pledge to the country to protect the pensions triple lock.
‘So in April, the state pension will increase in line with inflation, an £870 increase which represents the biggest ever cash increase in the state pension.
‘To the millions of pensioners who will benefit from this measure I say – now and always, this government is on your side.’
He also said that pension credit, an additional payment for pensioners on low incomes, would match cost of living rises along with other benefits.
Mr Hunt told MPs: ‘I have talked a lot today about British values – of compassion, hard work, dignity, fairness.
‘There is no more British value than our commitment to protect and honour those who built the country we live in.
‘To support the poorest pensioners, I have decided to increase pension credit by 10.1 per cent, which is worth up to £1,470 for a couple and £960 for a single pensioner in our most vulnerable households.’
The decision to restore the triple lock was welcomed by campaigners. It guarantees that the state pension rises each year in line with whichever is highest out of earnings growth, inflation
or 2.5 per cent – but was suspended last year as the recovery from Covid distorted wages.
Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said: ‘The restoration of the triple lock next year, uprating of pension credit in line with inflation, and cost- of- living payments, are all extremely important for older people, particularly for the many with no other income to fall back on, including hundreds of thousands of older women.’
But Robert Colvile of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank said the triple lock was an ‘awful policy’. ‘Why not means-test all pensioner benefits?’ he asked.
Former minister Karen Bradley was asked why wealthy pensioners should benefit. She told Sky News: ‘The important point is they paid into the system. They have worked very hard and they are entitled to have that respect in older age.’
‘Entitled to have respect’
‘So tax rises plus spending cuts will equal...’