Government must reverse decision to suspend pensions triple lock amid cost-of-living crisis

• TUC analysis shows the government’s broken promise to keep the state pension triple lock will cost pensioners almost £500 a year
• Real terms cuts to the state pension and soaring energy and food costs will force pensioners into poverty, warns union body
• Chancellor’s spring statement last chance to reverse decision and tackle the growing cost-of-living crisis

The TUC has today (Friday) called on the government to reverse its decision to suspend the state pension triple lock ahead of the chancellor’s spring statement next week.

Analysis by the union body shows the government’s decision to abandon the pensions triple lock will cost pensioners almost £500 a year.

In April the state pension will increase by 3.1%, instead of the 8.3% due under the triple lock formula, costing someone on the full new state pension £487 a year and someone on the full basic state pension £373 a year.

But since that decision was taken inflation has soared and is now expected to exceed 8% this year, which means pensioners are facing a significant real terms fall in income this year.

The union body says pensioners will be forced into poverty by rising fuel and food costs unless the government commits to its 2019 manifesto pledge to keep the triple lock.

Recent TUC analysis shows record-high energy prices could wipe out the entire value of pay rises this year. The union body says pensioners are particularly vulnerable to price hikes as they spend a higher percentage of their income on food and fuel.

The TUC is calling on ministers to reinstate the pensions triple lock for 2022/23.

And it is calling on government to reduce household costs by:

• Introducing a windfall tax on energy companies and using the funds to provide energy grants that at least match future rises in the energy price cap for vulnerable households, replacing the inadequate loans of £200 proposed by government.
• Rolling out a rapid programme of home insulation, targeted at lower income households and delivered by the public sector.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The UK has one of the least generous state pensions in the developed world.

“The triple lock was introduced to close this gap and lift pensioners out of poverty. Abandoning it in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis will leave thousands of pensioners struggling to keep their heads above water.

“With households across Britain pushed to the brink by skyrocketing bills, this is the worst time for the government to be cutting pensioners’ incomes.

“Reversing the decision to suspend the triple lock is one step it must take. But ministers must also protect households from being forced into poverty by rising bills. That means imposing a windfall tax on oil and gas profits and using the money raised to give hard-pressed families and pensioners energy grants – not loans.

“The chancellor’s spring statement is the government’s last chance to reverse its broken promise on the triple lock.”