Snap poll suggests public supports scrapping triple lock to fund national care service
Burnham's flagship announcement seems to be popular
One of the biggest announcements in Andy Burnham’s first speech to Labour conference as prime minister was his plan to scrap the triple lock on pensions in order to fund reforms to social care.
The triple lock means that the state pension increases each year by either 2.5%, inflation or average earnings growth, whichever is higher.
Burnham’s plan would see the triple lock replaced with a ‘double lock’ – increasing the pensions by either the rate of inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. This means that the state pension will increase at a slower rate and save the treasury billions of pounds.
These savings would be used to help create a new national care service which would make social care free at the point of use.
Early signs suggest that Burnham’s plans have the support of the public. A snap poll by YouGov found that 48 per cent of the public support the proposals, with 28 per cent opposed.
However, 25 per cent of the public don’t yet know whether they would support this measure.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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