Honour triple lock promise and raise state pension the full 8.5%

CAMPAIGNERS warned Jeremy Hunt he must honour the triple lock after official figures showed pensioners should be given an 8.5% hike.

-  Sam Lister

Average earning figures used to calculate the increase were confirmed yesterday following provisional estimates last month.

But the Chancellor is still considering whether to tweak the formula to pay out next April's increase at a lower rate of 7.9%.

Yesterday experts said that the rise was desperately needed by the country's pensioners and that the Government should "not try and wriggle out of its commitments".

Sir Steve Webb, partner at pensions and investment firm LCP, said: "The figures confirm that the Government's manifesto commitment to the triple lock on state pensions means that they should rise by 8.5% in April 2024.

"Although this will cost the Treasury more than £8billion, it is worth remembering that the UK still has one of the lowest state pensions in the Western world. And there is some way to go before the value of the pension recovers from a 30-year period when it was linked only to price inflation.

"This increase will simply keep the rise in the state pension in line with the pay increases that many in work have enjoyed." The triple lock links state pension increases to the highest of 2.5%, wages rises or inflation.