Tony Blair Institute Calls For End To Triple Lock Ahead Of Pensions Overhaul

The triple lock should be scrapped ahead of replacing the current pensions system to enable people to access funds earlier in life, Sir Tony Blair’s think tank has said.

A report by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) said the state pension is “outdated, increasingly unaffordable, and too rigid for the way people live and work” because it concentrates state-supported income support at retirement.

It argues that a new “lifespan fund” should be established instead, providing a flexible model that builds entitlement through activities including work, caring and study.

Annual contributions to a notional fund would provide up to 20 years of state-backed support at the level of today’s state pension, the think tank said.

People could then access some of that entitlement during their working lives to provide income support in “critical periods”, such as during unemployment, retraining or caring.

Those who choose to access this support would be automatically enrolled into higher national insurance contributions when they return to work, creating a “default path to rebuild what they had drawn down”.

The TBI said the triple lock should be scrapped to prevent the state pension rising faster than earnings growth and called for the Pensions Commission to encourage cross-party agreement before the next election.

Under the triple lock, the state pension increases every April in line with whichever is the highest of total earnings growth in the year from May to July of the previous year, Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation in September of the previous year, or 2.5%.