Triple Lock Plus

Triple Lock Plus

I supported the introduction of the Triple Lock in 2011 and have backed it every year since. I’m glad we continue to support older people by providing free bus passes and prescriptions, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments for those receiving Pension Credit. This new 'Triple Lock Plus' will ensure people NEVER pay tax on their state pension so we continue to ensure our pensioners live with dignity and security.

Rebecca Harris

The Prime Minister has announced a new Triple Lock Plus which will cut income tax for pensioners from April and make sure those who receive the state pension will NEVER pay tax on it.

The Triple Lock Plus:

It is a core Conservative value that those who have worked hard throughout their lives should be able to retire with dignity and financial security.

In the next Parliament, we will introduce the new Triple Lock Plus. This will comprise of two elements:

  • Continue to uprate the State Pension in line with the Triple Lock: Following the £900 increase to the State Pension this year, in April 2025 it will rise by a further £428 to over £11,970 and will increase by around £1,685 by the end of the Parliament.
  • From April 2025, we will also increase the tax-free personal allowance for pensioners by introducing a new age-related personal allowance. This will make sure people never pay tax on their state pension. This is a tax cut of around £100 for 8 million pensioners next year, rising to £275 a year by the end of the Parliament.

THE TRIPLE LOCK PLUS MEANS A £1,685 CASH BOOST AND £275 TAX CUT FOR ALL PENSIONERS BY THE END OF THE NEXT PARLIAMENT.

How will this be funded?

This policy will cost £2.4 billion a year by 2029/30 and it will be funded through our plan to raise an extra £6 billion a year by clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion. The Conservative Government has made sure the tax gap, the difference between the amount we receive in tax compared to the amount we expect, has been reduced to a record low and so we will now go even further to make sure everybody is paying the correct amount of tax.

 

Record support for pensioners under the Conservatives:

I supported the introduction of the Triple Lock so the State Pension always rises by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5%. As a result, since 2010 in cash terms this is £990 more than if it had been uprated only by prices.

We have also provided the most vulnerable pensioners with Pension Credit, free eye tests, NHS prescriptions and free bus passes. The Conservative Government also rolled out £5 billion of Pensioner Cost of Living Payments through a boosted Winter Fuel Payment to make sure people could continue to heat their homes after raised costs following Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

 

What would Keir Starmer’s Labour Party do?

Labour will drag the State Pension into income tax, waging an all-out assault on pensioners just like the last Labour Government did:

  • Under Labour, for the first time in history the State Pension will be dragged into income tax in the next Parliament. The new State Pension is forecast to increase to a level higher than the personal income tax allowance from April 2027. This would drag millions of pensioners into paying income tax for the first time.
  • Labour’s pensions tax raid wiped at least £118 billion off the value of people’s pensions. Between 1997 and 2013-14, the abolition of payable tax credits for pension schemes cost almost £118 billion.
  • Labour didn’t have the Triple Lock when they were in Government, meaning pensions sometimes barely rose at all – including by a paltry 75p in 2000.