The triple lock stays for this Parliament and changes from April 2030, the Prime Minister said. What he promised, what is undecided, and Worcester's 18,293 over-65s.
The state pension triple lock will stay in place until the next general election and then change from April 2030. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said so in his speech to the Labour Party conference on Tuesday 29 September.
The savings would pay for a National Care Service, which he said would end care charges taken from the basic state pension. Some reports have described the plan as scrapping the triple lock. That is not what the speech says. It keeps the lock for the rest of this Parliament and replaces it with a looser guarantee after that.
What the Prime Minister actually said
The words below are from the speech as published by the Labour Party.
On the triple lock now:
“We promised in our manifesto to keep the Triple Lock unchanged throughout this Parliament. I will honour that promise.”
On what happens next:
“From there, in April 2030, we will adjust it. The state pension will continue to rise every year at least by prices or 2.5%. And it will hold its value relative to earnings over time so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation.”
The speech commits to four things:
- The triple lock unchanged until the next election. The state pension keeps rising each April by the highest of inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%.
- A new rule from April 2030. A yearly rise of at least prices or 2.5%, with the pension keeping its value against earnings “over time” rather than every year.
- No care charges paid from the basic state pension, under a National Care Service that is “free at the point of use”. He said it would be introduced in the next Parliament and “fully funded, and not through borrowing”.
- No income tax for low-income pensioners in this Parliament. In his words, they “won’t be dragged into paying income tax”.
What is not decided yet
The speech gives no formula for the 2030 rule. It does not say how “over time” would be measured, or how much the change would save. Burnham said Louise Casey’s review “will advise us on exactly how” the care service is built. The speech does not say when that review reports.
Until the government publishes the detail, nobody can say what the change is worth to an individual pensioner in pounds.
What the triple lock is worth this year
The triple lock decided this April’s rise. The full new state pension went up 4.8%, in line with average earnings, from £230.25 to £241.30 a week. The full basic state pension, for people who reached pension age before April 2016, went from £176.45 to £184.90. Both figures are in the DWP’s announcement for April 2026.
The income tax promise matters because of how close those numbers now sit. The full new state pension is £12,547.60 over 52 weeks. The personal allowance for 2026 to 2027 is £12,570. That leaves £22.40 a year before a pensioner on the full rate alone would cross it.
How many people in Worcester this touches
At the 2021 census, 18,293 of Worcester city’s 103,874 residents were aged 65 or over. That is 17.6%, slightly below the 18.4% for England.
The wider county is older. Across Worcestershire, 138,034 of 603,676 residents were 65 or over, which is 22.9%.
Within the city, 8,426 people were 75 or over and 2,354 were 85 or over. Those are the age groups most likely to need the care Burnham described. The census counts people by age, not by who draws a state pension: the pension age was 66 in 2021.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes to your pension this year or next. The April 2027 and later rises before the next election still follow the triple lock, on the Prime Minister’s own words.
- The change, if it happens, starts in April 2030. It would need a Labour government after the next election and detail that has not been published.
- If you pay care charges now, the promise is that they stop coming out of the basic state pension once a National Care Service exists. The speech puts that in the next Parliament, not this one.
- Check what you are owed today. People on a low state pension may qualify for Pension Credit. The DWP says it unlocks help with housing costs and council tax (see Worcester’s council tax bands). The government’s Pension Credit calculator takes about ten minutes.
We will update this page when the government publishes the 2030 formula or Louise Casey’s review reports.
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