…the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the 10th April 2017 the value of the flat-rate state pension, brought in earlier this year, will increase to \u00a3159.35 from the current rate of \u00a3155.60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the Government’s\ncontroversial ‘triple lock’ manifesto commitment, the basic and new state\npensions will rise in line with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5 per\ncent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pensioners who reached\nretirement age before 6 April 2016 claim the basic state pension, which will\nincrease to \u00a3122.30 from \u00a3119.30 next April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research by the Pensions\nPolicy Institute, an independent research group, reveals that the cost of the\nstate pension will increase from 5.3 per cent of GDP now to 7.2 per cent by\n2046. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The triple lock’\nguarantee has been criticised by campaigners, arguing that it is unfair on\nyounger generations of workers paying for the state pension through their\ntaxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former ministers,\nincluding Ros Altmann and Iain Duncan Smith have called for it to be scrapped,\nalthough Ms Altmann believes the government should do so at the end of this\nparliament in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week former\nsecretary of state for work and pensions Stephen Crabbe called on the\ngovernment to review the guarantee, arguing in an interview with Sky News that\nit had “served its purpose”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom McPhail, head of\nretirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, believes the triple lock should be\nurgently reviewed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Pensioners can’t\ncontinue to enjoy indefinitely a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ guarantee at the\nexpense of taxpayers,” he said. “A review now looking beyond 2020\nmakes sense.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Pensioner incomes\nhave improved very substantially in recent years, in part thanks to the triple\nlock itself and partly because of the final salary pension system hitting peak\npayouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The incomes of many\nin work have flat-lined at best in recent years. There is therefore a growing\nrecognition of the disparity between the fortunes of the Baby-boomers now in\nretirement, and those younger cohorts who are being asked to pay for the cost\nof the state pension through their taxes.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed. From the 10th April 2017 the value of the flat-rate state pension, brought in earlier this year, will increase to \u00a3159.35 from the current rate of \u00a3155.60. Under the Government’s controversial ‘triple lock’ manifesto commitment, the basic and new state pensions will rise in line with the … <\/p>\n