Greg Hands M.P. has welcomed the biggest ever cash rise in the Basic State Pension, which came into effect this month.
The Government’s new ‘triple lock’ guarantee on the Basic State Pension ensures it rises every year with inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent – whichever is the highest. This month, it has risen by £5.30 a week, some £275 a year. As a result of the triple lock, pensioners will be an average of £15,000 better off over the course of their retirement.
It follows the Government’s decision to protect benefits for pensioners, including winter fuel payments, free prescriptions and eye tests, free bus travel and free TV licences for older the over 75s. This occurring despite the record budget deficit and debt inherited from Labour.
Commenting, Greg Hands said: “Thanks to the Conservatives in government, seventeen thousand pensioners in Chelsea and Fulham are getting the largest ever increase in the state pension.
“For 13 years, Labour promised to restore the link between earnings and the State Pension, but did nothing. This resulted in older people getting paltry pension increases – as little as 75 pence one year.
“But the Conservatives in government have guaranteed that pensions will always rise by the highest measure, whether that’s inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent.”