‘Costing billions’: is the pensions triple lock a lifeline or simply unaffordable?
There were fresh calls this week for the state pension “triple lock” to be ditched as debate rages over whether the UK can afford it. The triple lock guarantees that the state pension goes up each year in line with inflation or wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest. In the latest intervention, the British Chambers of Commerce has called for the policy to be scrapped, and the money saved to be put towards tackling the youth unemployment crisis. Meanwhile, a leading economic thinktank has added fuel to the fire by reminding everyone of the multibillion-pound cost of the policy. So what is the triple lock, is it a good or a bad policy, and is it destined for the chop? Here are four things you need to know: It was introduced by George Osborne (sort of) A few years ago, a Guardian opinion piece claimed that George Osborne – who served as Conservative chancellor from 2010 to 2016 – was “the most deliberately, intentionally, knowingly poverty-causing chancellor of modern times”. However, he did …
