The Government’s new ‘triple lock’ guarantee on the Basic State Pension ensures it rises every year with inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent – whichever is the highest. This week, it will rise by £5.30 a week or £275 a year. As a result of the triple lock, pensioners will be an average of £15,000 better off over the course of their retirement.
Edward Garnier MP said:
‘Thanks to the Conservatives in government, 22.6 thousand pensioners in Harborough will get the largest ever increase in the state pension, an extra £5.30 a week from this month.
‘For 13 years, Labour promised to restore the link between earnings and the State Pension, but did nothing. This resulted in older people getting paltry pension increases – as little as 75 pence one year.
‘But the Conservatives in government have reformed the State Pension, introducing the triple lock, which ensures that pensions always rise by the greatest of inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent. This will benefit pensioners by an average of £15,000 over their retirement.’
Notes
- The Conservatives in government have brought in the biggest ever cash increase to the Basic State Pension. The Government is increasing the Basic State Pension by a record amount, £5.30 per week, thanks to the triple lock.
- The ‘triple lock’ on the Basic State Pension explained. The triple lock guarantees that the Basic State Pension will always increase either in line with earnings, inflation, or 2.5 per cent – whichever is the highest (HM Treasury, June Budget 2010).
- Someone reaching State Pension Age this year will be £15,000 better off over their retirement than under Labour. ‘The triple guarantee to uprate the basic state pension by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent will mean that the average person reaching state pension age in 2012/13 can expect to receive an additional £15,000 in basic state pension over their retirement’ (DWP Press Release, 10 April 2012, link).
- Labour’s pension increases were as low as 75p. In April 2000, the basic state pension rose from £66.75 per week to £67.50 per week, an increase of just 75p (Watson Wyatt, UK Basic State Retirement Pensions).
- The gains in the triple lock guarantee will outweigh any notional losses from freezing the Age Related Allowance. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, the cash gains from the triple lock guarantee, as measured against Labour policy, are forecast to be greater than the notional losses from freezing Age Related Allowances. Future pensioners who will not receive Age Related Allowances will still benefit from the largest increase in personal allowance in both cash and real terms for the last thirty years.
- The Government is committed to supporting pensioners. We are introducing the largest ever cash rise in the state pension this April as a result of the triple lock, and protecting key pensioner benefits including winter fuel payments, free prescriptions and eye tests, free bus travel and free TV licences for older people (HM Treasury, Spending Review 2010).