I just worked out what state pensioners get without triple lock | Personal Finance | Finance
Retiring can be difficult. It would be much more difficult without the triple lock (Image: Getty)
We need this reminder more than ever as its future is once again threatened. Last week, Nigel Farage’s Reform Party pledged to support the mechanism that increases the state pension by the rate of earnings, inflation or 2.5% each year, whichever is higher. However, other parties remain indifferent. Labor Pensions Minister Torsten Bell has suggested it will not survive beyond this Parliament. The Conservatives once supported it but under Kemi Badenoch’s support this looks less certain. As public finances deteriorate, calls for it to be scrapped will grow louder.
From Monday 6 April, the full new state pension will rise by 4.8% to £241.30 per week or £12,547.60 per year. The basic state pension paid to those who retired before 6 April 2016 will also increase by the same amount, to £184.90 per week, or £9,614.80 per year. This is a fairly minor and long-standing complaint. Most older pensioners receive extra pay through SERPS or the state’s second pension, but that’s still hardly wealth.
Anyone who relies entirely on state pensions to fund their retirement income is heading for disaster.
According to PLSA Retirement Living Standards research, a single pensioner needs £43,900 a year for a “comfortable” retirement. A “moderate” standard of living requires £31,700, while even the minimum standard requires £13,400. And this assumes there is no mortgage or service lease. In every respect, the state pension is inadequate.
Read more: State pensioners sent letters from DWP with cash support for 6 April
Read more: ‘The reform will preserve the triple lock and will not pull the rug on retirees’
But without the triple lock, the situation would have been much worse. Scrapping it will be harder than most people think. I crunched the numbers and the result is horrifying. Without this, the situation for retirees would be much worse.
The triple lock has delivered a series of big increases in recent years, including 8.4% in April and a record 8.5% in 2024 due to inflation and wages respectively. Before the triple lock, the state pension only increased at the same rate as inflation. When it was released in 2011
In 2011, when the triple lock came into force, the basic state pension had a maximum of £102.15 per week or £5,311.80 per year. If it just followed inflation it would currently be worth at most £153.05 a week. That’s £31.85 less.
The basic state pension will be a maximum of £7,958.60 per year. This means an income of £1,656.20 per year less than what basic state pensioners will receive from Monday.
The new state pension was only introduced in 2016, meaning it was protected by the triple lock for a shorter period of time. But it was still very valuable.
The new state pension was £155.65 per week in 2016. If it had only increased with inflation it would now be £216.42. From Monday it will be worth £11,253.84 a year. Someone on the new state pension will receive £24.88 less each week. This represents a loss of £1,293.76 per year.
I’m sorry to spit out so many numbers on you, but they prove a simple point. Without the triple lock, retirees would be significantly poorer.
Millions of people are already struggling to make ends meet. Now imagine they get £25 or £30 less a week.
This is how Britain will treat its pensioners if the triple lock is lifted. Despite this mechanism, Britain has one of the least generous state pensions in the developed world. Without it, retirement becomes more difficult to sustain.
Leave aside the triple lock and the conclusion is clear: retirees will pay an unimaginably high price.
