‘What is this ‘triple lock’ we keep hearing about?’, I’ve been asked by more than a few already in receipt of their state pensions, ‘is it a good thing’. Well, yes, for you, a very good thing. For the government, the best that can be said is that ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’. The increase in state pensions is ‘locked’ into the higher of three different levels of inflation, the old Retail Prices Index, the newer Consumer Price Index, or the rise in wages. ‘The Time’ was not long after the financial crash, when recession had disappeared inflation and wages were falling. The trouble now, of course, is that both inflation and wages are rising at a lot more than the 2% which has been the norm for a good 10 years, so it’s now ridiculously expensive. But ‘cutting the pensions’, as it would be seen, of those most likely to vote is hardly an election-winning strategy…
“Why you should never retire”
On my 50th birthday, I will always remember, amongst the card or two I received was a letter from Saga’ who’d managed to find out my age through the wonder of the internet, and were pleased to tell me I now qualified to join my parents and go on holiday with them.
