DWP state pension review will not look at triple lock

Glasgow Times

5 days ago

The Work and Pensions Secretary has announced that she is reviving the commission, which last met in 2006, to tackle the issue of working age adults failing to put enough money into their retirement savings.
Experts have warned that people looking to retire in 2050 are on course to receive £800 per year less than current pensioners.
The commission is expected to provide recommendations for how to boost retirement income in 2027.
Ms Kendall also confirmed that the next statutory Government review into when and how to raise the state pension age will start work now.
'Unless we act, tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, because people who are saving aren't saving enough for their retirement,' she said during a speech launching the commission.
Lowering the age and earnings threshold at which people are brought into auto-enrolment and as well as looking at easy-access 'sidecar' savings accounts will be among the options the commission looks into.
Ms Kendall was asked if she thought it was impossible to maintain the triple lock guarantee given its cost and if she could guarantee it would be in Labour's next manifesto.
She said: 'The triple lock is out of scope of the commission. We've got a very clear commitment to that for the entirety of this Parliament.
'And what we're asking the commission to do is genuinely look medium to longer term, the middle of this century, and how the state pension and second pensions work together.'
What is the triple lock and how much is the state pension worth?
Under the triple lock system, the state pension increases each April in line with whichever of three measures is the highest:
inflation in the September of the previous year, using a measure called the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
the average increase in total wages across the UK for May to June of the previous year
or 2.5%
The Office for Budget Responsibility recently said that the triple lock has already cost three times more than initially expected and suggested it was unaffordable in the long term.
In April 2025, the earnings link meant the state pension increased by 4.1%, making it worth:
£230.25 a week for the full, new flat-rate state pension, external (for those who reached state pension age after April 2016) - a rise of £472 a year
£176.45 a week for the full, old basic state pension, external (for those who reached state pension age before April 2016) - a rise of £363 a year
In general, you need 35 years of qualifying contributions to get a full state pension.
Some people may have gaps in their NI record if, for example, they have lived abroad or taken time off to care for children.
You can make voluntary payments to boost your contribution history. Since 6 April, you can only make payments for the previous six years.
Ms Kendall was also asked about the potential hit to small businesses from increased automatic enrolment costs.
'I want our small businesses to be successful, but it is also the case, you know, flag forward to the middle of the century, 2050, if we don't act, the amount of pensioner poverty we face will cost everybody if we don't act,' she said.
She said she was 'under no illusions about how difficult this will be'.
Nigel Farage said the UK's retirement age will 'inevitably' have to rise as life expectancy increases.
Asked at a press conference in Westminster whether he shared the concern that triple lock pensions are becoming 'increasingly unaffordable', the Reform UK leader said: 'I share the concern with pensions being unaffordable on a national level, I also share the concern at the absolute scandal of the private pensions industry, which has served people terribly but done frightfully well for itself.
'We're going to have to face the reality that if people are living longer and longer, then inevitably retirement age is going to have to rise.'
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said 45% of working-age adults were putting nothing into their pensions.
Recommended reading:
The previous pensions commission recommended automatically enrolling people in workplace pensions, which has seen the number of eligible employees saving rise from 55% in 2012 to 88%.
DWP analysis suggested 15 million people were under-saving for retirement, with the self-employed, low-paid and some ethnic minorities particularly affected.
Around three million self-employed people are said to be saving nothing for their retirement, while only a quarter of people on low pay in the private sector and the same proportion from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds are saving.
Women face a significant gender pensions gap, with those approaching retirement in line to receive barely half the income that men can expect.