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State pensions to rise by 3.9% - MSE News

State pensions are set to rise by 3.9% from next April - the biggest increase since 2012...
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'State pensions to rise by 3.9%'
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Comments

  • The triple lock really needs to go.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 33,492 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The triple lock really needs to go.
    And who is going to even suggest that with an election in the wind ?
  • westv
    westv Posts: 6,320 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Remembering of course that any increase now benefits you when you claim.
  • JezR
    JezR Posts: 1,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    The old basic and new state pensions are required to rise by law with earnings, so nothing to do with the triple lock this time around.
  • Durban
    Durban Posts: 483 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 16 October 2019 at 1:23PM
    westv wrote: »
    Remembering of course that any increase now benefits you when you claim.

    Although I believe a lot of today's youngsters will probably die before they claim , or it may even be means tested and they will pay for these rises including the triple lock through higher taxes.

    It benefits todays pensioners and will benefit those in their 50's.

    It will probably do nothing for those in their 20's and 30's and those with young families who struggle enough with the high cost of housing . student debt , childcare , etc. It will add to their tax burden

    And no , I am not a youngster and will benefit from this in time , but I do feel that the younger generation are being shafted
  • LHW99
    LHW99 Posts: 4,938 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    The old basic and new state pensions are required to rise by law with earnings, so nothing to do with the triple lock this time around.
    Hence at the moment the triple lock is redundant, so ought to be able to be quietly dropped.
  • kangoora
    kangoora Posts: 1,193 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The triple lock really needs to go.

    Surely the triple lock will benefit everyone eventually, unless they die before reaching SP age?

    What about pensioners who have zero (or very low) private pensions - are you begrudging them a decent annual rise in their SP?

    When you finally retire, would you rather have had a pension that has increased at a decent amount compounded annually, or a pension that has been crippled by low rises - it's still not very generous as it is.

    I'm still 10 years away from SP age but I've been funding other peoples SP from my income for the last 40 years and, I for one, would prefer a larger SP than a smaller one......
  • JoeCrystal
    JoeCrystal Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 16 October 2019 at 2:40PM
    LHW99 wrote: »
    Hence at the moment the triple lock is redundant, so ought to be able to be quietly dropped.

    Well, as it stands, a 1% increase is an increase of £960 million so 3.9% increase would be adding £3.76 billion on the cost of paying out the state pension which brings it over £100 billion marks. :eek: Of course, I would prefer to see an increase in State Pension, to be honest. It would not be long before it is the most expensive part of the Government's budget.
  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 11,053 Forumite
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    westv wrote: »
    Remembering of course that any increase now benefits you when you claim.

    Not really. If State Pensions were increased by lower amounts then future State Pension claimants would pay lower taxes in the present. (This isn't an argument in favour of doing so, I'm just stating a causal relationship.)

    It's a transfer of wealth and somebody has to be the loser. It's certainly not the people receiving State Pensions now (most of them are net recipients) so it must be those receiving them in the future.

    The trouble with removing the triple lock is that as soon as there is a low-inflation year the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror will print big headlines about the amount the Government has "stolen" or "raided" from pensioners, being the difference between the actual increase and what it would have been if the 2.5% lock had remained.

    In exchange the Government saves what is essentially peanuts in the grand scheme, compared to rising life expectancy and the cost of public sector DB pensions. Ain't wurth it bruv.
  • MaxiRobriguez
    MaxiRobriguez Posts: 1,783 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 16 October 2019 at 2:51PM
    kangoora wrote: »
    Surely the triple lock will benefit everyone eventually, unless they die before reaching SP age?

    Which for the young generation might be a probability, rather than chance, if it even exists when they get there.
    kangoora wrote: »
    What about pensioners who have zero (or very low) private pensions - are you begrudging them a decent annual rise in their SP?

    Yes. Sorry, if you have zero in your pension then why should you be entitled to a massively above inflation payrise considering you've already had a lifetime of free tertiary education, cheap house prices and defined benefit opportunity.

    The whole point of the triple-lock was to improve pensioner wealth, which has been achieved and then some.The reality is pensioners as a generation have by far the most wealth now and have benefited from things no longer available to those currently in work too. Time to settle for inflation linked state pension rises, you're still winning/won the game of life.
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