- Conference
- 2022 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 12 May 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Pensioners are people who have served the country as employees, parents, volunteers and carers throughout their working lives and many continue to do so in retirement. Most do not have an organised way to press for justice in retirement although some are fortunate to be retired members of organisations such as Unison. On retirement they expect fair treatment to support them as they age but in the UK the state pension is among the lowest in Europe.
UK state pensions are increased annually through a formula based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in September of a particular year which is set in legislation and looks at the previous 12 months of price and wage increases. In recent years this has been subject to a Triple Lock which raises state pensions by the highest of percentage increases in prices, average earnings or 2.5%, but the increase is only paid at the beginning of the following April. Crucially the Triple Lock is not prescribed in legislation but is subject to Government goodwill and of course it was ignored by the Government when setting the 2022 increase.
Throughout the economy, wage rises, salary increases or executive remuneration are invariably awarded from the date of the claim or review, yet state pensions are only increased some 6 months later by which the increase has already lost part of its value. The Government excuse is that it takes time to work through all the associated “benefits”, as they are incorrectly named. However that would and should not prevent the increase being backdated to the date of the assessment. It is an unfair device to save the Government money and should be swiftly abandoned.
Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members Committee to liaise with the NEC, the National Pensioners Convention, Age UK and other relevant organizations to press the Government to amend its practice for awarding state pension increase to embrace the Triple Lock into legislation and to make pension increases take effect from the date of assessment in September.