Burnham sets out pension triple-lock change to fund care

• Burnham announced the change at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on 29 September.
• From April 2030, the pension would rise at least by prices or 2.5 per cent, without the triple lock’s automatic annual link to earnings.
• He said the savings would help build a National Care Service in England, but gave no figure for how much the change would raise.
• Officials say pensions would still keep their value relative to earnings over time; the method for doing that has not been set out.

The triple lock raises the basic and new State Pension each year by whichever is highest: average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent. Burnham said it would remain until the end of this Parliament, then be adjusted from April 2030. His proposal removes the automatic yearly comparison with earnings—the part of the rule that can produce a larger rise when wages outpace prices and the 2.5 per cent minimum.¹²

Burnham said pension rises would be at least by prices or 2.5 per cent, and that pensioners would retain their value relative to earnings “over time”. STV reported officials’ assurance that the pension could rise by more than the stated floor in some years to protect that value. Neither the speech coverage nor STV sets out the earnings measure, timetable or calculation that would make the assurance work. So the announcement gives a direction for reform, not a complete uprating formula.¹³

He linked the prospective savings to a National Care Service for England, which he described as free at the point of use. Burnham said the government would prepare for the service before introducing it in the next Parliament. He called the savings “significant”, but the coverage of his speech gave no costed estimate of the savings or the care service.¹

That leaves two important questions unanswered: how much the pension change would contribute, and how the government would make good on the promise to protect pensioners’ earnings-relative value. The Government Actuary’s 2026 report describes the existing triple lock and notes that pension increases have a legal basis of at least keeping pace with average earnings. It was prepared before Burnham’s announcement and assumed the triple lock would continue through April 2030; it does not explain how his proposed change would be put into effect.²

The timing keeps the current promise in place through this Parliament. Before the speech, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party remained committed to the triple lock during the Parliament, while Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned that changing it would be wrong and politically damaging. Burnham has now announced a change after that period, but the detailed proposal and its status as a future Labour commitment have yet to be set out.⁴

Footnotes

1. The Independent, “Andy Burnham speech live: PM says he will scrap state pension triple lock and back electoral reform”. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Government Actuary’s Department, report on the 2026 benefits up-rating order. ↩ ↩²

3. STV News, “Burnham sets out plan to reform triple lock to pay for social care”. ↩

4. The Guardian, “Burnham to signal willingness to look at scrapping pension triple lock to fund social care”. ↩