Overview
- The Prime Minister said this week that “nothing is off the table” for funding his proposed national care service, prompting renewed debate over the state pension triple lock.
- Ministers including Defence Secretary Wes Streeting have publicly confirmed Labour will honour its manifesto pledge to keep the triple lock for the remainder of the current Parliament ending in 2029.
- Office for National Statistics data showing 3.9% average wage growth makes a 3.9% uprating likely next April, which would raise the full new State Pension to about £250.70 a week.
- Analysts and former ministers say the triple lock is costly to the Treasury — estimates cite roughly £15.5bn a year in current spending and suggested savings of up to around £22bn by 2030 if it were scrapped or reformed.
- Experts have proposed alternatives such as a double lock, an earnings link, a smoothed earnings link or an inflation-only link and unions are split on change while advisers point to Pension Credit top-ups as a way to protect lower-income pensioners.