Mel Stride reassures pensioners the triple lock is here to stay

Retirement dreams? You may have to wait until you’re 70… Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride reassures pensioners the triple lock is here to stay but suggests younger people may have to work for years longer to claim it

• Economists warned stubborn inflation could spark 7 per cent rise in pension bill 
• Mr Stride said he was confident policy would be included in the next manifesto 

The state pension triple lock is here to stay – but people may eventually have to wait until the age of 70 to claim it, the Work and Pensions Secretary said yesterday.

In an unusual intervention, Mel Stride moved to reassure pensioners that a commitment to the triple lock will be included in the next Conservative manifesto.

But Mr Stride also suggested younger people may have to work for years longer in order to claim it.

Downing Street committed to honouring the triple lock this week, despite warnings from economists that stubborn inflation could result in a 7 per cent rise in the pension bill.

Mr Stride went further, saying the Conservatives were committed to the triple lock in the long term.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride takes part in a live phone-in on LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast show, at the Global Studios, London on  28, 2023

He told LBC Radio: ‘We do have a particular duty to pensioners. They are in a position where it is less easy for them to step back into the labour market… so I do think it’s particularly important that we look after them.’

Asked whether the policy would be included in the next Conservative manifesto, he added: ‘I’m confident that it will be. It’s not for me to write the manifesto on air, but I think it almost certainly will be.’

However, Mr Stride hinted that a delayed review of the state pension age is likely to lead to people being asked to work longer before they can retire.

A decision on whether to bring forward the rise in the state pension age to 68 was delayed this year, with ministers pledging to return to it after the next election.

Mr Stride said he delayed the move ‘because the uncertainty in the data at the moment, we could afford to wait until after the next general election, and still give people ten years or more notice of that change’.

Asked if it could eventually be raised to 70, he said: ‘Currently, when I was reviewing things, I wasn’t looking at the rise to 70. But let me make a more general point which is we are all living much longer.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride leave at Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting in London on June 27, 2023

‘We are demographically an older, an ageing society, supported by a narrower cohort of younger workers. And we have great pressure on the public finances.

‘And if you add all those things together, it does push in the direction of working longer and later in life.’

Labour yesterday said Sir Keir Starmer was committed to the triple lock and would include it in his election manifesto. Sources said this would be reviewed only if the Government drops its own commitment to the pledge.

Economists have predicted that pensioners could be in line for a 7 per cent increase next year, following a 10.1 per cent rise this year. The scale of this year’s increase triggered a Cabinet row, with some ministers suggesting it was not sustainable to give pensioners an inflation-level increase while asking public sector workers to accept less.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman suggested the Government will honour next year’s rise regardless of the cost, adding: ‘There are no plans to move away from the triple lock.’

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