'Scrap triple lock so all ages pay for economic impact of Covid-19'

On Tuesday morning the SMF published a briefing paper that proposed the triple lock be scraped so the economic burden of the pandemic could be shared fairly between the old and the young. The triple lock guarantees the basic state pension will rise in line with the lowest of earnings, inflation or 2.5%. The SMF estimated replacing the triple lock with a ‘double lock' by removing the 2.5% promise would save £20bn over five years, which could be used to help meet the costs arising from lockdown. The paper argued the economic impact of lockdown was falling most heavily on those of wor...