The Pensions Minister, Laura Trott MP, was challenged on Good Morning Britain TV on Monday 18 September to confirm which average earnings figure will be used to uprate State Pensions from April 2024, in line with the Triple-Lock which links the pension to the higher of: average earnings growth; CPI inflation; or 2.5%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced last week that average earnings, excluding one-off bonuses, had increased over the past year by 7.8%; but if the one-off bonuses are included the rise is 8.5%. CPI inflation in the year up to July is currently at 6.8%. This would mean a State Pension rise next April of either 7.8% or 8.5%.
In a feisty interview on GMTV this morning , the Pensions Minister confirmed that bonuses are usually taken into account in assessing the earnings indicator for State Pension increases, but that she “cannot give any guarantees for this year as the process [of reviewing the statistics] has not yet been completed” within Government. The interview clip can be viewed by clicking on the video picture below:
CSPA Deputy General Secretary, David Luxton, commented today:
” CSPA is campaigning for the triple-lock to be applied in full, so as to to ensure that Pensions do not lose ground relative to average earnings growth. Currently the new State Pension is at 25% of average earnings, one of the lowest in the Western economies, but before the triple-lock was introduced from 2011, the State Pension represented only 16% of average earnings. Many of our members rely on the State Pension to get by in retirement as the average Civil Service pension is less than £10,000 a year.”
A final announcement on the State Pension increase from April 2024 is expected to be made in the Chancellor`s Autumn Statement in Parliament on Wednesday 22 November.
