UK Government Agrees to Keep State Pension Triple Lock

28 June, 2017

It was announced on 26 June 2017 that as part of the agreement reached between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that the state pension Triple Lock will now remain in place. The two parties reached an agreement which sees Theresa May stay on as prime minister in a minority government after failing to win an outright majority at the UK general election held on 8 June 2017. The agreement means the DUP will support the government on key votes such as the Budget, but the two parties will not be entering into a formal coalition.

This announcement follows a Queen’s Speech delivered on 21 June where the government was unusually silent on pensions. Theresa May was forced to scrap a number of her most controversial policies after losing her majority. Retaining the Triple Lock represents a U-turn from the Conservative Party’s manifesto issued in advance of the election. The manifesto noted the Conservative’s intentions to change to a Double-Lock from 2020. The Double-Lock would have meant the state pension rising in line with earnings or inflation, whichever was the highest.

Photo is copyright (c) 2016 Bjørn Erik Pedersen and made available under CC BY 4.0