Retirees are set to see pensions rise by 10 per cent next year – despite the government insisting public sector workers receive below-inflation pay rises.
The government confirmed the state pension triple lock will return next year, meaning it will rise by inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest.
Pensioners will see double-digit payments increases in April next year as the state pension will be determined based on September’s CPI inflation – which is expected to be 10 per cent.
This could bring a boost of almost £1,000 a year to retirees.
The triple lock was introduced by the coalition government in 2010 help give pensioners a decent minimum level of income which would keep pace with growth in workers’ earnings.
The wages measure within the triple lock was temporarily suspended for a year during the Covid-19 pandemic but it is now being reinstated.
Downing Street has defended restoring the pensions triple lock, which will see the benefit rise in line with inflation, at a time when the government is arguing against wages keeping pace with rising prices.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab on Wednesday told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They (pensioners) are particularly vulnerable and they are disproportionately affected by the increase in energy costs which we know everyone is facing.”
The government had committed £37bn to help people cope with rising costs, he said, but “at the same time we have got to stop making the problem worse by fuelling pay demands that will only see inflation stay higher for longer and that only hurts the poorest the worst”.
Asked why state pensions will rise with inflation but not public sector pay, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Pensioners, particularly those who receive state pensions, are disproportionately impacted by high energy costs.
“They can’t always increase their incomes through work and they are more vulnerable to cost-of-living pressures”.
