Older state pensioners will be handed a bumper £9,855 a year from April 2027 thanks to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s triple lock pledge.
The new PM, along with his new Chancellor John Healey, have promised to retain the state pension triple lock, the financial instrument through which pension payments are increased every year automatically.
This is despite repeated warnings from the likes of the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Tony Blair Institute, among others, that the triple lock is ‘unsustainable’.
It means that state pensioners will be given at least a 2.5% boost to their DWP payments from April 2027, and if inflation or wage growth are higher than that, the increase will be even higher, matching the highest of the three metrics.
For older state pensioners, even a 2.5% boost would represent another £240.37 a year extra from the DWP, or an annual total of £9,855.17 for a pre-2016 state pensioner with a full National Insurance record.
Currently, the basic state pension, for those who hit state pension age before 2016, is worth £9,614.80. It means that even if the triple lock only rises by the statutory minimum 2.5%, it will hand older state pensioners an extra £240.37 per year on their basic state pension payments, if they have a full National Insurance record, not including any additional uplifts such as Second State Pension or SERPs.
It was confirmed that the Triple Lock is set to give a £575 increase to new state pensioners from April 2026. That’s because the key average earnings figure was confirmed at 4.8%, which is higher than inflation and of course higher than the 2.5% minimum floor for increases.
Older state pensioners, who hit state pension age before 2016, also got the same 4.8% boost to their basic state pension, but the basic pension is set at a lower weekly amount, so the end result is a lower total increase. Older state pensioners saw their payments increase from £176.45 to approximately £184.90, while new state pensioners saw theirs rise from the previous £230.25 to £241.30 per week.
Earlier this month, Andy Burnham has said it is “important” to continue the Labour manifesto commitment to maintain the triple lock on the state pension.
Reddit user Masam10 asked in an online Q and A: “Is it time to abolish the triple lock? Or at least have that discussion?”
The Makerfield MP replied: “I appreciate there’s a lot of debate about this but it is important that the commitment in the manifesto stands.”