State pension and triple lock: How much is it and when can you get it?

Both the Conservatives and Labour have committed to keeping the triple lock.

It was temporarily suspended after the Covid pandemic distorted average wage figures, but later restored.

In the run-up to the General Election, the Conservatives have also promised to raise the tax-free state pension allowance in what they have called a “Triple Lock Plus”.

Under the plans, the personal allowance for pensioners would increase by at least 2.5%, or in line with the highest of earnings or inflation, meaning fewer would have to pay income tax on it.

A similar policy existed in the past but was scrapped by former Conservative chancellor George Osborne.

Labour has not set out whether it would make a similar move but said the Conservatives’ plan was not “credible”.

The proposed tax break for pensioners is “simply a reversal of a tax increase that the Conservatives proposed”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson has said.