On the go: The state pension triple lock will be honoured for the remainder of this parliament, Thérèse Coffey has said.
The work and pensions secretary made the commitment in parliament on March 21 during a debate on the impact of the cost of living crisis on pensioners, brought by Labour.
Jon Ashworth, shadow work and pensions secretary, asked Coffey whether she would commit to honouring the triple lock amid concerns that older people and pensioners risk being at the “sharp end” of the cost of living crisis.
“On the same day that the government broke the triple lock, they introduced the national insurance increase, a proportion of which — for the first time — will be paid by working pensioners,” he said.
“That is not protecting pensioners’ spending power or protecting them from the higher cost of living.”
He said that is why older people are now asking whether the government will break its promise on the triple lock next year too. Ashworth asked: “Can [Coffey] confirm that the triple lock will be honoured for the rest of this parliament?”
Coffey replied: “The answer is yes, I do make that commitment.”
The news comes 24 hours before chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to announce his Spring Statement.
The government had temporarily suspended the wages element of the pensions triple lock for 2022-23 to avoid a disproportionate rise of the state pension following the pandemic.
Under triple lock rules the state pension is increased by the highest of earnings growth, price inflation or 2.5 per cent a year, and there were concerns that this meant it would rise by more than 8 per cent this year due to the distortion caused by the pandemic.
Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said this will offer some reassurance to state pensions, but that continued levels of high inflation is sending a “chill” through pensioners.
He said: “Looking ahead, there’s a good chance that state pensioners will be in for a bumper increase in April 2023 (…) which will include inflation till September 2022.
“However, a year’s a long time to wait to ‘catch up’, and unfortunately some of our elderly might not live to see the increase.”
Cameron said one approach would be to offer a higher state pension increase this April, for instance to 5.6 per cent, in exchange for a lower increase next April.
“The chancellor has a hugely difficult task of offering support in the current cost of living crisis and pensioners are one group who need particular attention,” he said.
This article originally appeared on FTAdviser.com
