Baroness Therese Coffey, a former Conservative cabinet minister and work and pensions secretary, has warned that the state pension triple lock may need to be replaced with a "double lock" mechanism. Speaking in the House of Lords on Friday, Lady Coffey said she would "probably prefer some kind of double lock" over the current system.
The triple lock, introduced in 2010 by the coalition government, guarantees that the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, wage growth, or 2.5%. Lady Coffey, who served as work and pensions secretary from 2019 to 2022, acknowledged that the 2.5% figure "seemed the right thing at the time" to achieve the policy goal of increasing pensions as a proportion of earnings more quickly, a target she said has been "achieved, by and large."
Criticism from former civil service head
Lord Turnbull, the former head of the civil service, was more blunt in his assessment, branding the existing system "frankly idiotic." He said, "We have a chaotic system generating random windfall gains, and they are always gains, according to the movement of earnings prices in particular years." He added that the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated the triple lock could cost an extra 2% of GDP.
Lord Liddle, a Labour peer, admitted feeling "a little guilty" that the matter "didn't directly address the triple lock question" in recent discussions. He acknowledged it is "obvious" that the issue requires closer scrutiny.
Ageing society concerns
Lord Liddle also warned that Britain is "woefully unprepared for the future" in the face of an ageing society. He said, "The lack of any published strategy on ageing is a worrying indication that the Government would prefer not to face up to these challenges as an immediate question, and that the UK is therefore woefully unprepared for the future."
The comments come as Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has been issued a fresh warning that the state pension triple lock may have to be scrapped. The long-standing pledge, which has been a cornerstone of pension policy since 2010, faces growing scrutiny from senior political figures across parties.
