PENSIONERS may not bag a bumper £901 pay rise next year, the Welfare Secretary hinted today.
Mel Stride suggested he could downgrade the triple lock to exclude worker bonuses from the rate OAP bungs increase in April.
It would mean millions of state pensioners would receive a lesser hike of £826.8 rather than the expected £901.
Under the current system the triple lock pushes up pensions by whatever is higher of wages, inflation or 2.5 per cent.
But a jump in earnings of 8.5 per cent – outstripping 6.8 per cent inflation – would cost the cash-strapped Treasury around £9billion.
Mr Stride today warned he would take into account the “affordability and the position of the economy” before rubber-stamping any rise.
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While committing to the principle of the triple lock, he refused to rule out pegging the increase to earnings without bonuses, a lesser rise of 7.8 per cent.
He told the BBC: “I don’t want to get into the weeds of exactly how I'm going to go about that. But the overarching point about the triple lock is that we remain committed to it.”
Many Tories fear that ditching the triple lock would trigger an electoral backlash with only a year before voters head to the polls.
Older voters are one of the Conservatives’ most reliable voter bases and crucial to any path of reelection.
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One Tory MP said: “We shouldn’t touch it. It would be madness at this time.”
Last year ministers hiked pensions by a costly 10.1 per cent in line with ripping inflation after bowing to pressure.
Mr Stride admitted the triple lock – a flagship Tory policy since 2011 – was “not sustainable” in the long term.
Former Conservative leader William Hague – Rishi Sunak’s mentor and confidant – today advocated scrapping the expensive system.
Many see the triple lock as unfair for making poorer younger workers foot big pay rises for wealthier OAPs.
TaxPayers’ Alliance boss John O’Connell said: “The triple lock is placing unsustainable pressure on the public finances, limiting scope for much needed tax cuts which would benefit everyone.
“While pensioners deserve to be protected from inflation, it is unfair on workers who have been playing catch up with price rises to insist that they fund inflation-busting pension boosts, particularly with the tax burden at a 70-year high.”
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