What is the triple lock pension? How would Rishi Sunak's tax-free plan work for pensioners?
Rishi Sunak has promised to raise the tax-free pension allowance if the Conservatives win the general election.
Under the plans, the personal allowance for pensioners would increase at least 2.5 per cent, or in line with the highest of earnings or inflation. The Prime Minister said this showed the Conservatives were “on the side of pensioners”, and accused Labour of backing a “retirement tax”, but not supporting it.
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Hide AdBut what is the triple lock and how would the scheme be funded?


The triple lock
The triple lock guarantees the state pension rises every year in line with inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest. Introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010, it helps to ensure pensioners’ living standards keep up with those of the wider population. More than 12 million people receive the state pension.
This year, the link to earnings under the triple lock meant an increase of 8.5 per cent from April 8. That was worth £221.20 a week for the full, new flat-rate state pension for those who reached state pension age after April 2016. For those who reached it before April 2016, it was worth £169.50 a week.
What is ‘triple lock plus’?
Annual pay-outs from state and private pensions are taxed, as well as other income streams such as for rental properties or freelance work.
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Hide AdThe policy will increase the amount that some pensioners receive every year by reducing their tax liabilities, with the Conservatives saying it would mean a tax cut of around £100, rising to an average of £275 a year by the end of the next Parliament.
By 2027, the state pension is expected to be higher than the tax-free personal allowance, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
How will it be funded?
Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said the Conservatives could “comfortably” raise the money for tax cuts for pensioners by clamping down on tax avoidance. He told Times Radio: “[A total of] £2.4 billion is the cost at the end of the Parliament.
“We can comfortably raise £6bn from clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion and that figure, in fact, is very much in line with the kind of figures that we’ve achieved in the past. And, in fact, the head of the National Audit Office has actually stated that that number is achievable and that is where the fully funded costing will be met.”
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Hide AdWhat has been the criticism?
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Paul Johnson queried where the saving was actually coming from.
He said: “About half the cost of this is just not imposing the planned tax increase – via three more years of freezing allowances – on pensioners. So the £100 "saving" next year is mostly just avoiding a £100 tax increase, rather than an actual giveaway.”
There was also criticism from right-wing think tank the Adam Smith Institute. The organisation argued the state pension could be financially unsustainable as soon as 2035, and tax cuts should focus on making work pay, rather than pensioners.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds claimed the tax cut was "not credible, not realistic", and "another gimmick".
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