The National Pensioners’ Convention is urging MPs to use their last chance to save the Triple Lock on pension rises in Parliament on Monday (15th November)
NPC members want their local MPs to stop the suspension of the Triple Lock when the Bill to change it - the Social Security (Up-Rating of Benefits) Bill - comes back before the House of Commons this Monday afternoon.
Peers in the House of Lords, including Baroness Ros Altmann and Lord Prem Sikka, voted to defeat the government legislation on the Bill and send it back to MPs with an amendment to keep the measure.
Now the NPC’s 1.1million members want their MPs to show the same bravery and take this last chance to vote to accept the Lords’ amendment, when it comes before the House of Commons on Monday.
At present the Triple Lock, introduced in 2010, ensures the state pension rises next April by either the highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5%. However, the government wants to break its Manifesto pledge to keep the Triple Lock until 2024, because of an unusually high rise in earnings this year.
Jan Shortt, General Secretary of the NPC said: “By suspending the Triple Lock, the Government are not only breaking a Manifesto promise, they are also condemning millions of pensioners on low incomes to fall further into poverty as prices sky-rocket.
Our members are angry that MPs are not defending the Triple Lock which safeguards state pension increases. But it is still possible for the Government to do a U-Turn and save the Triple Lock – after all, they seem able to do it with just about everything else except pensions. It is clear that this government has no understanding of what life is like for most pensioners, who live on £10,000 a year or less.
“Not all pensioners are wealthy – only 545,000 of them pay tax at the higher rates, with around 6 million pensioners not earning enough to pay any tax at all.
“Whilst Pension Credit is a lifeline for some, many pensioners have income just above the threshold and struggle to make ends meet. That’s why keeping the Triple Lock is so important. The increases that the triple lock gives accumulate over time, so suspending it now means that pensioners of the future will lose out”
Jan Shortt sincerely thanks all the Peers, including Baroness Ros Altmann, Lord Prem Sikka, and Lord Davies for their hard work and support for pensioners on this issue.
Baroness Ros Altmann, pensions expert and former Pensions Minister said: “Having won the vote in the Lords, it is now up to MPs and also to the public to see if we can save the triple lock. It is only the MPs who have the power to do this, we in the Lords can only recommend it to them. If MPs start getting loads of letters or messages from constituents asking them to think again, then hopefully they will realise this decision is flawed and that they need to honour their triple lock commitments made at the 2019 Election. In the eye of a cost-of-living storm, it is just wrong to take away promised protection from millions of pensioners. The money the Chancellor is saving on state pensions is going towards cutting alcohol duty and cutting taxes on banks. What type of priorities or values are these?”
ENDS
Download the press release below