LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Monday he was unable to commit to raising state retirement payments in line with inflation in April as currently planned.
He was asked during a parliamentary debate to recommit to the triple lock, a government promise to raise publicly-funded pensions by the highest of earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
"I'm very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are and the importance of the triple lock ... but I'm not making any commitments on any individual policy areas," he said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-unable-confirm-state-pensions-will-rise-with-inflation-hunt-2022-10-17/The state pension triple lock is once again under threat after new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt refused to rule out breaking the manifesto promise that protects millions of retirees from inflation.
When asked in the House of Commons to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to the state pension triple lock, Mr Hunt said while was aware of how many vulnerable retirees there are, he would not make “any commitments to individual policies”.
He added: “Every decision we make will be made through the prism of what matters to the most vulnerable.”
Under the triple lock, which the Conservative Party committed to in its 2019 manifesto, the state pension is increased every April in line with the highest of the previous September’s inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5pc. However, the policy was first broken by former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in September last year, following a freak jump in wage figures caused by furlough and redundancies during the pandemic.
Prime Minister Liz Truss committed to reinstating the policy in her leadership campaign.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/news/state-pension-triple-lock-threat/Jeremy Hunt has suggested the triple lock on state pensions increases could be scrapped, as he refused to make any commitments on “individual policy areas”.
The Chancellor said decisions would be taken “through the prism of what matters” to the most vulnerable but failed to guarantee the Government would maintain the triple lock, the policy commitment by which state pensions are uprated by whichever is highest of 2.5%, wages and inflation.
At the end of September, his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng had said he and the Prime Minister were “absolutely committed” to it.
I’m very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are and the importance of the triple lock but, as I said earlier, I’m not making any commitments on any individual policy areas, but every decision we take will be taken through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable"
https://www.standard.co.uk/business/money/jeremy-hunt-signals-state-pensions-triple-lock-could-be-scrapped-b1033317.html
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