The Pensions Triple Lock has to go

[Flammkuchen]

When it was introduced, the aim of the Triple Lock was to increase pensions faster than earnings as the state pension was low. The TL has been very successful: pensioners now have a higher standard of living and more disposable income than working families. A pensioner couple each getting the full state pension receive £20k per year, with any private pension income on top.

This is great for them, but it comes with a trade-off. In order to increase pensions by over 10% a year, there is less money to pay nurses, teachers or doctors. Highly skilled public sector workers have low pay and there is a recruitment crisis.

AIBU to think that now that on average pensioners have higher disposable income than those in work, a policy that aims to increase pensioner income by MORE than average earnings - and so keep increasing the income of pensioner households faster than working households - needs to be rethought? Even just linking the state pension to average earnings would be better.

Goriest

TORIES

That;s my view too. It absolutely will not be popular but I can see us being told that the NHS will have to go unless some sacrifices are made.

Yeah because the state pension is crap and still people want take even that away.

There is also higher retirement age than in quite a few others. Eg it's 4 years more here for me to get the pension non depended on wages I had than in my native country where it also depends on your previous wages (to a point).

Not that i will be getting pension here anyway

While I don't begrudge pensioners a 10 %
Increase, I have noticed that the cost of living crisis has affected me, as a working mother with a mortgage so much more than my parents as pensioners

I had a 4% pay rise, but my mortgage has increased. I am supporting a child through uni, she receives the minimum loan. My parents own their house. Their only significant increase in costs has been utilities, which I have too. My parents eat out at least once a week, even though both my DP and I work, we can't eat out. My NI contributions increased this year, my parents obviously don't pay NI. I absolutely do not begrudge them their increase, I want them to enjoy their retirement but the current cost of living crisis is affecting us as a family so much more.

Tories means tested contribution based EAS aided by libs that had been paid for too

If you have got to retirement and have made nothing more of yourself, then a basic income is fine, but not more

This is really horrible. Some retired people were once unsupported Care Leavers. Some had children with disabilities and couldn't easily work, some had their own mental or physical health issues, some were victims of domestic violence before refuges existed and the benefits then were to the family and assumed a male breadwinner.
People who have retired were just the same as people now, but let them suffer if they haven't made anything of themselves.
Some things are harder now, some are easier, particularly for women.

BTW. My husband was 66 when he died. He did not even claim a year of his state pension.

I think we would all support benefits/pensions/allowances according to the stage of life we are at.

I have never received any benefits and am looking forward to receiving my pension albeit at 67.

My DC are in their thirties and there was no government funded childcare when they were preschool age. What I find hard to understand is why the government fund 30 hours childcare for an individual with earnings up to 100k or a couple with earnings of up to 200k. I also have no understanding of every child in infant schools having a free lunch. I have no problem at all with those who need it receiving it but not those that don't.

I think what either this government or subsequent governments need to do is look for a workable method to means test allowances and payments.

We will soon be seeing the annual threads featuring Alan Sugar receiving a winter fuel payment.

Thats strange, as most of the ones I know did.

Having said that many pensioners had the opportunity to go into their chosen professions without the need for a degree unlike today so yet another advantage they had over younger generations.

The world has an ageing population

More & more people will be living longer & longer

This issue is only going to increase & grow bigger

We are the same. paying extortionate uni accommodation costs for ds with another going to Uni next year. Then it will become impossible.

@Willyoujustbequiet you are showing that you mix in elitist circles and don’t understand the average pensioner’s life. As I said earlier it is a matter of public record that by the end of the 1970s only 14% of young Britons were attending university. Current pensioners would have been age 24 by 1980.

It sounds like bank of mum and dad is not enough for some people they want bank of grandma and grandpa as well.

Not this again. The triple lock needs to stay....the state pension is low enough as it is, and with rising costs and the inability to work owing to older age, how else is the average pensioner going to keep up?

I will retire in 2.5 years' time. I grew up thinking I'd retire at 60 but no, they moved the age. My body is worn down working in a heavy workload job, but I have no choice but to work until I am 66. I am low paid and haven't the means nor the energy to do more hours/an extra job to make more cash.

When I retire, I will have only the state pension to live on. There are thousands like me. No, I do not have extra money in the bank, no windfalls or large inheritances, nor do I own my own home. I rent. I have worked all my life and paid my NI and deserve the pension in order to survive in old age.

And no, the NHS is not poorer because of the triple lock, the money isn't interchangeable as you seem to suggest.

I don’t see any pensioners moaning,only people like you.I’m grateful for my state pension as is my husband but I can assure you we are not rolling in money.
After working full time,paying tax and NI and raising a family over 40yrs surely I’m entitled to a reasonable old age.

Ha ha. My 85 year dad is always trying to slip my kids some cash as he admits he has way too much money to live off with his state and private pension.

If you will only have state pension to live off and no savings over 16k then you will likely get a good amount of housing benefit towards your rent and most of your council tax paid.

Oooooh entitled theres a word 🙄
Are any of us entitled?

Please make sure you get a benefit check done from CAB or Age Uk or use one of their online calculators when you retire.

My Mum has savings which annoying she won't use to do the many repairs required on her home (I don't think she can cope with the upheaval, but wants to keep the money in case leaking roof, windows and old electrics become more of an issue). She worked part-time around me being at school but didn't pay NI, so she only qualifies for basic state pension. She did this as my DF worked many evenings and weekends on top of a normal 37.5 hours a week for what income they did have.

I don't need to phone her now to know she's sat there with her dressing gown over her clothes and a scarf around her neck, so I don't deny her and many others in similar situations the triple lock.

Yes we are entitled to the pension. We have worked, paid tax and NI on the basis that we would receive a pension. We had a contract with the government that we receive it without means testing. If you are unhappy with the situation which will apply to you then take it up with your MP, make a fuss, campaign. Try to change it for the better.

Absolutely not. We have one of lowest state pensions in Europe. A reasonable pension saves money in the longer term by maintaining the health of pensioners.
People have paid NI all their lives and its not a free hand-out for the majority.

Money should come from sources that are not a race to place as many in destitution as possible. Recouping undelivered Covid contracts, for example. Selling off the aeroplanes Johnson commissioned and windfall taxes on utilities companies profiteering.

This thread reveals that the triple-lock is not well understood.

1. If you want pensions to maintain their value in real terms, then link it to inflation.
2. If you want pensions to maintain their standard of living relative to others, then pensions should be linked to average earnings. This means that as standards of living improve for everyone, pensioners benefit and is usually better than (1). This is what I am proposing.
3. The triple-lock means that pensions will always grow by the higher of inflation, average earnings or 2.5%. Over time, this option means that pension income will increase faster than average incomes. I feel this is unfair.

And it is nonsense to suggest that spending more on pensions has no implications for government expenditure elsewhere.

Which is why, presumably, you need the state pension to be protected for when you do retire!

Don’t panic, no one is paying for people to retire on a state pension at 60 any more.

The employers of those us working now are obliged to make private pension payments on our behalf. This is a provision that many people currently on a state pension did not benefit from.