Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Reduced rise in our pensions

We might have expected the triple lock on state pensions to be sacrosanct after the Conservative party pledged to keep it during their 2019 election campaign. 

In truth though, we should have known better. The present government does not have a good track record on keeping promises. They claim that the cost this year would have been too high and that inflated cost would have been ongoing in future years. 

The government has therefore confirmed a one-year suspension of the ‘triple lock’ for annual state pension increases.  The average earnings component will be disregarded in 2022-23 (as it was last year) and the rise will temporarily be replaced with a ‘double lock’ linked to either inflation or 2.5%. 

We were on track to get a record boost to our state pension next year thanks to artificially high earnings growth – by more than 8% due to the effects of the furlough scheme, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Sadly, that is not to be. 

The ONS says that the state pension amount will increase by 3.1% for the tax year 2022/23. This will represent a boost of up to £288.60 for the year, reaching a total of up to £9,627.80. The full state pension amount from April 2022 will be £185.15 a week, up from £179.60.

The promise now is that the suspension of the triple lock will just be for this next year. We will have to wait and see if that promise is kept.  Surely the Conservatives know better than to upset silver haired voters who represent a large part of their support. 

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