Overview
- Conservative Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh told MPs the triple lock is “bankrupting” the country and should be phased out, urging a cross-party rethink during a Commons debate.
- Pensions minister Torsten Bell reaffirmed the government’s commitment to uprating and highlighted the “biggest ever” Pension Credit take-up push, citing 60,000 additional awards in the year to July.
- The OBR says volatility in inflation and earnings has made the policy around three times costlier than expected, adding roughly £15.5bn a year to the state pension bill by 2029–30.
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set a 4.8% increase for next year, while analysts warn frozen tax thresholds are pulling the state pension close to the personal allowance and could draw more retirees into income tax.
- A live parliamentary petition urges scrapping the guarantee in favour of inflation-only rises, as ministers also plan limited indexation for pre‑1997 PPF and FAS payments from January 2027, subject to the Pension Schemes Bill.