Keep the pensions triple lock – Write to your MP

In September 2021, the government announced a one-year suspension of the ‘triple lock’ for state pension increases. The triple lock is the uprating formula that increases the new State Pension (which started in April 2016) and the basic State Pension (under the pre-2016 system) in line with whichever is the highest out of:

the annual rise in prices (as measured by the Consumer Prices Index)
average earnings, or
2.5%

Pensioners’ standards of living will fall relative to the population as a whole if the government severs the earnings link for uprating state pensions.

The policy objective of the triple lock has not yet been met, so it is important the UK government continues to apply these increases to state pension. The statistical anomaly caused by the pandemic is not an excuse to sever the earnings link to the state pension.

At the very least, an adjusted figure should be used to take into account the pandemic’s effect on earnings – based on ONS data for August, this would mean an increase of between 3.6% and 5.1%.

The Social Security (Uprating of Benefits) Bill, which includes the proposed suspension of the triple lock, returns to the House of Commons for its third reading on Monday 15 November.

Please urge your MP to support the amendment that will reverse the suspension of the triple lock. You can also personalise the email if you like.

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