A Fair Deal Between the Generations: Completing the Work of the Triple Lock

Applicability: Federal; except 3 (lines XX–XX), which applies to England, Wales and Scotland only insofar as pensions remain reserved.

(Word count: approx. 600)

Conference notes that:

i. The state pension triple lock was introduced in 2011 by Liberal Democrats in government, under Pensions Minister Steve Webb, to reverse decades of decline in the state pension's value and end widespread pensioner poverty.

ii. The triple lock has succeeded in its original purpose: following the April 2026 uprating of 4.8%, the full new state pension stands at £241.30 per week (£12,548 a year), having risen by more than 30% in four years, restoring its value relative to average earnings.

iii. Pensioners are today no more likely to live in poverty than working-age adults, while poverty is increasingly concentrated among children and working families.

iv. The 2.5% minimum acts as a ratchet, guaranteeing that the state pension grows faster than both prices and wages indefinitely — a guarantee enjoyed by no worker, no carer and no family in receipt of any other support.

v. The Office for Budget Responsibility warns that the triple lock is a major driver of unsustainable growth in age-related spending, with costs falling on a shrinking working-age population already facing a rising state pension age, unaffordable housing and record tax burdens.

vi. Hundreds of thousands of the poorest pensioners still fail to receive the Pension Credit to which they are entitled, because of persistently low take-up.

vii. The freeze in income tax thresholds until 2031 means the full new state pension will exceed the personal allowance from April 2027, dragging into tax both pensioners with no other income and low-paid workers alike, which the Government has addressed only with a temporary administrative workaround.

Conference believes that:

a) A decent, secure income in retirement, protected in real terms, must remain a permanent commitment of any liberal society.

b) The triple lock was a means to an end, not an end in itself; with pensioner incomes restored, the arbitrary 2.5% floor can no longer be justified.

c) Uprating the state pension by the higher of inflation or average earnings would guarantee that pensioners never fall behind either the cost of living or the living standards of those in work — keeping every promise that actually matters.

d) Fairness between generations is a core liberal value, and asking today's workers to fund unconditional above-earnings increases for all pensioners, regardless of need, is neither economically sustainable nor morally defensible.

e) All major parties have treated the triple lock as politically untouchable; Conference recognises the electoral risk of reform, but believes that telling voters the truth about difficult trade-offs is the duty of a serious party of government.

Conference therefore calls for:

1. The replacement of the triple lock with a double lock, uprating the state pension each April by the higher of CPI inflation or average earnings growth.
2. A statutory guarantee that the state pension can never fall in value in real terms, nor as a share of average earnings.
3. A pensioner poverty safeguard, comprising: a) uprating Pension Credit by the same double lock; b) a national take-up campaign and automatic identification of eligible pensioners through HMRC and DWP data-matching.
4. A statutory guarantee that no one whose sole income is the state pension pays income tax upon it, replacing the Government's ad hoc workaround, pending a wider end to the freeze on income tax thresholds.
5. An independent commission, in the spirit of the Turner Commission, to report on the long-term sustainability and adequacy of the state pension, including the future of the state pension age and the case for aligning the tax treatment of earned income, pension income and National Insurance, so that income is taxed equally regardless of the age of the person receiving it.
6. The fiscal savings from reform to be reported transparently by the OBR and prioritised towards services and support for children, young people and working families.