Andy Burnham's proposal to scrap the state pension triple lock is based on a "huge lie", with the savings from the change insufficient to fund his social care plans, according to the Daily Express.
In a speech on Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced Labour would go to the next election on a platform to scrap the triple lock. The Express, which says it will defend the mechanism "to the death", argues the announcement was "worryingly vague and in come areas, borderline dishonest".
The biggest sleight of hand, the paper says, was presenting the change as a way of resolving the UK's social care crisis, when the two issues are "entirely different" and "the sums simply don't add up".
Funding Gap Exposed
Burnham's proposed "adjustment" to the triple lock will not generate the money required to fund his National Care Service for many years, if ever, the Express argues. "We'll get the pension cut, but it won't fund his social care revolution."
His proposed universal social care system is estimated to cost at least £18 billion a year, while the government says adjusting the triple lock could save £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, however, points out that nobody really knows. It said the triple lock axe might save £4 billion by 2034, but that is "obviously not enough". In practice, it might save nothing at all, depending on how inflation and earnings move.
The IFS makes it clear: "Savings from triple lock reform could be large but will not be able to fund social care."
Earnings Link 'Most Important Part'
Today, the triple lock increases the state pension each year by earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest. Burnham proposes changing this so that it rises by either inflation or 2.5% from 2030.
Pensions campaigner Ros Altmann said "dropping the earnings link removes most important part of the triple lock". It is what stops pensioners falling behind the living standards of working people over time. The Express argues that if the triple lock had to be scrapped, Burnham should have kept the earnings link and axed the other two elements.
Burnham then said he will add a new mechanism to keep pace with earnings over time, but did not say how it will work. The Express says this leaves future state pension increases in the hands of future politicians.
Social Care Plan 'Cannot Possibly Pay'
Burnham says his plan will provide older people with free personal care at the point of need, including help with eating, dressing and bathing. But it does not mean care homes will suddenly become free. Bed and board will not be covered, meaning people in residential care will still have to pay massive accommodation costs and existing means-tested contributions will remain. Families could still pay tens of thousands of pounds a year until estates fall below £14,250, something Burnham did not make clear in his speech.
Altmann said Burnham's plan "cannot possibly pay for what is being promised" and is therefore a classic case of political doublespeak. His social care plan will be funded by making future pensioners poorer, and the PM is hoping we won't notice until it's too late.
The Express says pensioners are clearly being gaslighted, and the paper will continue to campaign for the triple lock, which it says has lifted millions out of poverty. The new mechanism could reverse that without solving the social care nightmare, making it "lose-lose".
