Pensions’ triple lock must be axed to help pay coronavirus bill as recession looms, experts say
THE pensions’ triple lock must be dumped to help pay coronavirus costs, experts are demanding.
Working-age Brits are being hardest hit by the shutdown, with unemployment soaring and a massive recession looming.
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The Social Market Foundation said pensioners should “share the burden” and have their welfare handouts trimmed.
Scott Corfe, the SMF’s research director said: “Quite rightly, society is making sacrifices to protect its elderly right now.
“There is a clear case for intergenerational reciprocation when it comes to meeting the fiscal costs of the crisis in the years ahead.
“The crisis has emphasised our obligations to other generations, even in the face of personal sacrifice.
“This spirit must be maintained when the dust settles – with the economic costs of responding to the crisis shared fairly across the generations.”
The triple lock is a legal guarantee that ensures the basic state pension will rise by at least 2.5 per cent.
Replacing it with a “double lock” that removed the 2.5 per cent minimum rise would save a whopping £20billion over five years, the SMF said.
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The report warned it would be grossly unfair to dish out the bumper benefit while others are forced on the dole.
A staggering 1.2million Brits have been forced onto universal credit in just three weeks as the coronavirus crisis hammers the economy.
And there are growing fears the economy will not simply bounce back when the lockdown is finally lifted.
The Sun Says
THE Chancellor is right to pump another £14billion into frontline public services.
We depend on our brave NHS staff to keep us safe. So it’s vital that we equip them with everything they need to tackle this deadly pandemic.
But the latest whopping financial package — and the many which came before it — will have to be paid for somewhere down the line. And the poorest must not be forced to take the hit.
Which is why the Government should take the advice of experts at the Social Market Foundation and dump the pensions triple lock.
The backwards policy is set to cost £20billion over the next five years — cash which could be a lifeline to Brits left on the dole by the merciless virus.
Of course ordinary OAPs mustn’t be left out of pocket; they deserve a comfortable retirement.
But thousands of triple lock beneficiaries are middle-class millionaires who no longer have mortgages to pay.
It’s only right that they chip in to the eye-watering coronavirus bill.
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