Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has confirmed that the government will stand by the full state pension triple lock, with pensioners to receive an 8.5 per cent increase in their state pension from April 2024.

In his Autumn Statement, Hunt said the triple lock had been a lifeline for many during a period of high inflation.

"We honour our commitment to the triple lock in full," he stated. "This is one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension."

While industry experts had suggested that the government may opt to increase the state pension by a lower figure, given the impact of the NHS and Civil Service one-off payments made earlier this year, Hunt confirmed that the state pension triple lock would be honoured in full.

The news has been welcomed by industry experts, with Hymans Robertson partner, Paul Waters, arguing that "now was not the time to tweak the triple lock".

He continued: "The increased income that it provides right now, especially to deal with the high cost of living, will have been desperately needed by pensioners, particularly those on low incomes.

"The state pension is already relatively low when measured against recommended UK minimum living standards and many European countries.

"Changes to the triple lock, or the state pension, shouldn’t be made in a piecemeal way. In a period of relatively high inflation and interest rates, financial metrics and benefits shouldn’t be looked at in isolation.

"Short-term decisions like suspending the triple lock aren’t a simple fix to the challenge of managing high levels of public spending and the ageing population.

"It needs a long-term solution, so, once the state pension is at a more meaningful level for the pensioners relying on it, the mechanism of ensuring fair but affordable increases must be addressed. Deep-rooted reforms that consider the interaction of pension savings, tax, and other benefits including care are needed.”

Adding to this, Standard Life managing director for retail, Dean Butler, stated: “There will be no fiddling with the triple lock formula this year as the Chancellor confirmed his intention to offer those in receipt of the state pension the full 8.5 per cent due as a result of increases to average earnings.

"There had been some speculation that we may see a reduced offer of 7.8 per cent to reflect the fact that some of the earnings growth was due to a one-off payment to public sector workers.

“The last couple of years have seen exceptionally large increases applied to the triple lock as a result of inflation and wage growth and questions surrounding the growing cost remain.

"A proposed review of the state pension was pushed out earlier this year reflecting the highly sensitive nature of the policy this side of an election.”

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