'Pensions safety net will be subject to tax'

Campaigners warn of 'ludicrous' prospect for OAPs

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Silver Voices campaign group wants the personal allowance to be boosted for pensioners by £1,000 from April then uprated in future on the same basis as the triple lock guarantee to prevent pensions from being taxed.

Dennis Reed, its director, said: “In her spring financial statement on March 26, the Chancellor must take urgent action to prevent the basic state pension from being taxed from April 2026.

“Because of the frozen tax personal allowances, and depending on the size of the triple lock increase due next year, the top of the new state pension may breach the current tax-free personal allowance of £12,570.

"This would then present the ludicrous situation of the state pension safety net, which has already been paid for through National Insurance contributions and taxes, being itself subject to tax. Taxing some of the state pension would also drive a coach and horses through the whole principle of the triple lock safeguard.”

April's rise of 4.1% is in line with the average increase in wages.