The Labour government has dismissed concerns that the state pension could be means-tested <\/strong>or that the triple lock could be scrapped. As reported by The Independent<\/a><\/em>, Pensions Minister Torsten Bell assured pensioners that neither measure is under consideration, despite recent speculation sparked by opposition politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The triple lock <\/a>has been in place since 2011, ensuring that the state pension keeps pace with rising living costs. In 2023, it resulted in a 10.1% increase for pensioners, reflecting the UK’s record inflation that year. In 2024, the increase will be 4.1%, equivalent to an extra \u00a3472 per year for pensioners, based on average wage growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Means-testing the state pension<\/a> would involve reducing payments for wealthier retirees\u2014for example, those with large private pensions or savings. Countries like Australia and Canada already use means-tested pension systems, where state pension payments depend on a retiree\u2019s other sources of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Labour has confirmed the triple lock will remain, economists warn that it could become increasingly expensive over time. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) <\/strong>has stated that the triple lock creates \u201cunpredictability\u201d in public spending, warning that it could cost between \u00a35 billion and \u00a340 billion extra per year by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite these concerns, Bell\u2019s reassurance means that, for now, pensioners can expect their state pension to continue increasing under the current system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Labour minister has addressed mounting concerns over potential changes to the state pension, sparking debate over what the future could hold for retirees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retirement","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105961,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105960\/revisions\/105961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}