I believe that everyone deserves financial security in retirement and that the cornerstone of that is a decent State Pension, properly indexed to ensure that it keeps its value for future generations of pensioners. 

The Government made a manifesto commitment in 2019 to maintain the triple lock. However, on 7 September 2021, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that it would be unfair to apply the triple lock for the financial year 2022/23 because average earnings were estimated to have risen by 8%. She argued that this rise was a “statistical anomaly” created by the large number of people who saw their earnings fall during lockdown. So, instead of an 8% rise, pensioners received a 3.1% rise in April this year. 

When this decision was made, my Opposition Colleagues and I pressed the Government to be fully transparent about the reasons behind the decision and the evidence that it relied on. This included calling on Ministers to publish the Treasury’s official analysis and to explain why they could not have assessed the underlying levels of wage growth with the impact of furlough discounted. However, the Government was not forthcoming with answers. 

This year, the Government confirmed that the triple-lock will return for the 2023/24 financial year, meaning that pensioners are expected to receive a bigger rise in April next year, potentially as high as 10%, depending on the exact inflation figure for September 2022. The Government has argued that this will compensate pensioners for the lower rise this year. 

I can assure you that my Opposition Colleagues and I will hold the Government to this commitment, as well as its 2019 manifesto pledge, to implement the triple-lock. The Government cannot keep breaking promises to support pensioners, especially during the current cost-of-living crisis.