Rishi Sunak pledges to honour the pension triple lock even if stubborn inflation means another bumper rise as economists say pensioners could see a 7% increase next year

• PM ‘committed’ to the system which is designed to protect pensioners’ incomes
• The scale of this year’s increase triggered a fierce Cabinet debate

Rishi Sunak will honour the state pension triple lock even if stubborn inflation means another bumper rise, Downing Street said yesterday.

No 10 said the Prime Minister was ‘committed’ to the system, which is designed to protect pensioners’ incomes.

Economists have predicted that pensioners could be in line for a 7 per cent increase next year, following a 10.1 per cent rise this year.

The scale of this year’s increase triggered a fierce Cabinet debate, with some ministers suggesting it was not sustainable to give pensioners an inflation-level increase while asking public sector workers to accept less.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman suggested that the Government will honour next year’s rise regardless of the cost.

No 10 said the Prime Minister was ‘committed’ to the system, which is designed to protect pensioners’ incomes (File Photo)

‘There are no plans to move away from the triple lock – we remain committed to it,’ he said.

Asked whether the rise would go ahead even if it might fuel inflation, the spokesman added: ‘Government overall has to retain fiscal discipline.

‘We will consider how taxpayers’ money is used so that it doesn’t embed inflation. We know it is inflation in pay that tends to be more inflationary. We are committed to the triple lock.’

Inflation in September – which is used to calculate the following year’s uprating – is forecast at 7 per cent according to the Bank of England’s most recent projections.

Under the triple lock, the state pension must increase by inflation, wages or 2.5 per cent – whichever is higher.

The ‘lock’ has come under pressure over recent years and was suspended in 2022 because of distortions in wage growth caused by the pandemic.

But it was restored this year and supporters have warned it would be ‘totally unacceptable’ for the guarantee to be suspended.

A seven per cent rise would be worth almost £750, taking the annual state pension from £10,600 to around £11,342.

Asked whether the rise would go ahead even if it might fuel inflation, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Government overall has to retain fiscal discipline. We will consider how taxpayers’ money is used so that it doesn’t embed inflation’ (File Photo)

Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, warned that the triple lock was likely to be ‘unsustainable’ in the long run given the pressures on the public finances.

He said that big rises would ‘bring forward the date at which the triple lock will be scrapped’.

But one former Tory Cabinet minister said it would be ‘political suicide’ to try to squeeze pensioners in the run up to next year’s election.

Campaigners point out that even a seven per cent rise would only protect incomes from the worst ravages of inflation.

However a rise on this scale would fuel tensions with the trade unions over public sector pay. Ministers are currently debating whether to accept independent recommendations to increase the pay of millions of public sector workers by around six per cent this year.

Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have both indicated they would be willing to impose lower increases if the recommendations are deemed to be inflationary.

The Bank of England called for pay restraint last week amid fears that Britain is slipping into a 1970s-style wage-price spiral.

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