Ex-Pensions Minister Baroness Ros Altmann has warned the government against abandoning the State Pension Triple Lock despite a potential 8% rise on the way.

She wants to see a more fundamental review of the State Pension and not a one-off dropping of the Triple Lock.

There are concerns that the government may scrap the Triple Lock in the face of a potential 8% rise in State Pensions due to the uprating mechanism.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has hinted that the government may temporarily suspend the pension Triple Lock to stop the Treasury being hit with a £3bn cost to pay the increase. 

The Triple Lock is a long term government guarantee that the State Pension will increase in line with inflation, average earnings or 2.5%. Because average earnings are set to rise rapidly due to the ending of furlough and part-time working some experts have forecast that the State Pension increase could be as high as 8% as average earnings surge. 

Baroness Altmann, who has herself criticised the inflexibility of the Triple Lock in the past, says that the system is not a sensible policy and owes its existence to political motivations.

However ditching it quickly could cause more harm than good, she warns.

She said: “We need a comprehensive review of all aspects of pensioner support, not constant tinkering with parts of it. Take the political meddling away and let’s have a sensible retirement income system for all.”

She points out that the UK State Pension is the “lowest in the developed world” and millions of pensioners – especially women - rely solely on state pensions because they did not have the opportunity to build up private pensions when younger.  

She is calling for a comprehensive review of State pensioner support with all the parts considered holistically.  

She said over the years, politicians have added many parts to pensioner support, originally introduced for political gain, but which then became a fixture.  These include tax free benefits like a Christmas Bonus, Winter Fuel Payments, Age Addition, free travel, free prescriptions and so on. 

She said: “These are all state pensioner income and have additional costs for taxpayers which are not well targeted. This complex patchwork of pensioner support has grown up over the years due to constant political meddling and needs an overhaul.”

She also believes the Triple Lock is not well understood, it only protects two parts of the State Pension and is most beneficial for younger pensioners.

She says the Triple Lock must be reformed and it is the 2.5% element that makes no sense as a long-term goal – a double lock has more merit. She believes moving to a double lock makes more sense and will ensure that pensioners receive the best of earnings or price inflation so they do not fall behind the rest of society.