Prime Minister Andy Burnham is addressing the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. Among the issues he has addressed are homelessness, electoral reform and public control of water. But the biggest announcement is around social care and pensions.
Burnham proposes setting up a National Care Service, and he says it will not be funded by borrowing. Instead, he plans to abandon the pensions triple lock after the next election.
The triple lock means that pensions go up each year based on three numbers: inflation, average wage growth, or a flat 2.5%. Whichever percentage is highest become the rate used to increase the state pension for the forthcoming year.
The PM says this will stay for this parliament, but then pensions will go up in line with prices, or by 2.5% each year.
Defending the plan, Burnham said, “This change will generate significant savings, which we will use to build up our National Care Service. Some may not realise it, but older people with nothing more than the state pension or only a little more, can find themselves paying care charges today. Under my plan, this will no longer happen.”
Summing up his care and pension plans, Burnham said, “Pension that rises every year, no care charges and a high quality National Care Service to give peace of mind in later life.”
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