Pension triple lock at risk as Truss warns of ‘difficult decisions’
Number 10 has refused to commit to the state pension triple lock, after Liz Truss promised to keep the measure just weeks ago.
Truss’ spokesperson refused four times to say Truss would uphold the triple lock, which would ensure state pension payments stay in line with inflation next year.
New chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned yesterday that public spending is not going to rise by “as much as people hoped” and he today told cabinet ministers to “find efficiencies” in their departments.
Hunt has overturned almost all of Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s debt-funded tax cuts and is now pledging to restore fiscal prudence to the Treasury.
Truss told her cabinet today that “difficult decisions” must be made, with cabinet ministers now scrambling to send spending cut proposals to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
When asked about the pension triple lock today, Truss’ spokesperson said: “We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are and, indeed, our priority ahead of this fiscal plan will be to ensure we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.
“The chancellor has been clear, the prime minister and the chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point, but as I say the decisions will be made through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.”
Pensioners currently receive £185.15-a-week, which would likely increase to around £200 if the triple lock is maintained.
The triple lock sees state pensions, for people 66 and over, increase each year by whichever is highest out of inflation, the increase in average earnings and 2.5 per cent.
Annual inflation hit 9.9 per cent in August, but this could change by next April when the pension increase is due to be set.
The triple lock was suspended for 2022-23, because post-Covid wages surged by 8 per cent through a statistical anomaly.
Labour shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Tory MPs have already imposed this year the biggest real terms pension cut ever for Britain’s retirees and their disastrous budget has them considering further cuts to pensioner’s incomes.
“Pensioners deserve so much better than Liz Truss and her disastrous mistakes that are leaving older people paying the price.”