At Prime Minister’s Question Time today Liz Truss confirmed that the triple lock on the state pension would remain in place.
In a response to a question from the SNP leader in the House of Commons Ian Blackford, she said that both her and the new chancellor had agreed that this would remain. This means that pensioners will receive a record 10.1 per cent increase to their pensions in April.
A 10.1 per cent increase – based on September’s CPI figures, published today, – means that the the full flat-rate state pension, paid to those reaching state pension age from 6 April 2016, increases from £185.15 per week to £203.85 per week (£10,600.20 per year) from April next year.
Meanwhile the basic state pension, paid to those who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016, will increase from £141.85 per week to £156.20 per week (£8,122.40 per year).
This will mean the state pension is now worth more than £10,000 a year, the first time it has broken this threshold. This is the largest increase. In the past 10 years the highest uprating has been 5.2 per cent, awarded 2012/13. In most years increases have been less than 3 per cent.
Earlier Hunt had refused to confirm that the triple lock remained in place.
