Protecting Pensions
People who have worked hard their lives deserve to enjoy their retirement with security and dignity, which is why the Conservatives have committed to the Triple Lock in our manifesto
.• The Conservatives have increased the State Pension by over £ 900 this year, are providing additional cost of living payments to pensioners to help with high energy bills, and we are delivering pension reforms to boost pension pots for hardworking people.
• The choice at this election is clear: the Conservatives who have increased the State Pension by £3,700 since coming to power and will protect the Triple Lock, or Labour who raided pensions when last in Government and want to increase taxes on pensioners.
The Conservatives will protect pensioners by:
• Protecting the Triple Lock and uprating the State Pension by £900 this year, protecting pensioners’ incomes. We have protected the Triple Lock we introduced in 2011 and will uprate the State Pension by 8.5 per cent in April 2024 in line with average earnings growth, meaning pensioners will receive up to £900 more a year. This follows the record 10.1 per cent increase last year.
• Increasing the State Pension by over £3,700 since 2010, delivering on our promise to provide dignity in retirement.
From 1st April 2024, we will have increased the basic State Pension by £3,736 since 2010, ensuring pensioners have the income they need to live in dignity thanks to the Triple Lock.
• Delivering wide ranging pension reforms that will see the typical pension boosted by £1,000 a year, helping people save for their retirement.
The Chancellor’s ‘Mansion House Reforms’ could unlock an additional £75 billion for high growth businesses, while reforms to defined contribution pension schemes will increase a typical earner’s pension pot by 12 per cent over the course of a career.
• Abolishing the Pensions Lifetime Tax Allowance, incentivising more experienced workers to stay in work for longer.
We abolished the Pensions Lifetime Tax Allowance protecting people approaching retirement age from receiving a tax charge on their pension and incentivising them to stay in or return to the workforce.
• Supporting pensioners with their energy bills, recognising they may need extra support. 11.9 million Winter Fuel Payments and Cost of Living Payments, worth £4.8 billion, have been paid to pensioners across\ the UK last winter, worth up to £600, recognising extra pressures on pensioners’ incomes.
REMEMBER
Almost the first action of the last Labour government was a £5 billion a year raid on pension funds, which, as even a former Labour MP, the late Frank Field, admitted, caused Britain to go from having the best funded pensions in Europe to one of the worst.
• Under the last Labour government, pensions rose by just 75 pence in 1999.
In 1999, Gordon Brown announced an increase of the Basic State Pension from £66.75 to £67.50.
• Rachel Reeves’s new tax advisor called pensioners ‘codgers’ and said they have ‘had it ridiculously good’ then for good measure argued they should pay National Insurance. Edward Troup, a member of Rachel Reeves’ tax advisory board, said that today’s pensioners ‘had it ridiculously good’, adding that it is a ‘complete disgrace’ that pensioners aren’t paying national insurance and we should be ‘looking [to tax] the codgers.’
Comments