Nocturnal 
Kemi Badenoch has confirmed that keeping the pension triple lock remains official Conservative policy, as the row over pensioners and tax heats up ahead of next month’s Budget.
The state pension is on course to rise above £13,000 a year, after figures showed it is likely to go up in line with wage growth of 3.9 per cent under the triple lock system. That mechanism guarantees the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest out of average wage growth, inflation, or 2.5 per cent.
Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith is set to pledge to protect the triple lock and cut taxes as the Conservatives unveil deregulation plans at their party conference in Birmingham, as first reported by JOE.
Why it matters
The pledge comes as pensioners face being dragged into paying income tax on the state pension alone for the first time, because the personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 while the pension itself keeps climbing above it under the triple lock.
Chancellor John Healey is reportedly drawing up plans to stop retirees being hit by what’s being dubbed a “granny tax”, according to The Sun. Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves had promised at last year’s Budget that the state pension would be kept out of tax altogether.
Pensions Minister Torsten Bell said the government intends to honour that pledge, telling The Sun: “In line with the commitment made at Budget 2025, pensioners who only just exceed the personal allowance will not have the administrative burden of paying small amounts of tax in this Parliament. The Chancellor will set out further details on how that commitment will be delivered at the Budget.”
Griffith has gone on the attack over the issue, saying: “Labour’s Granny Tax means pensioners living on just the State Pension face a tax bill for the first time.” He added: “Pensioners will spend the last years of their lives filing tax returns or on the phone to HMRC. Labour will tax everything – from your holiday to Granny’s pension.”
However, analysis by consultants Lane Clark and Peacock (LCP) suggests the government’s planned fix will only help a fraction of pensioners. Of the 13.2 million people currently receiving a state pension, LCP estimates just 700,000 will actually benefit from the commitment.
Crucially, none of the 7.7 million pensioners still on the old state pension system are expected to qualify. Under the rules as they stand, only those who rely solely on the state pension — with no top-ups, private pension income or investments — would be shielded from the tax hit. Pensioners living outside the UK would also miss out.
What happens next
Healey is expected to set out exactly how the government plans to deliver on its “granny tax” promise when he delivers the Budget next month. That will likely mean either raising the tax-free personal allowance above the state pension level or introducing a separate mechanism to exempt pension income from tax.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are positioning the triple lock as a dividing line with Labour heading into the next election, alongside their wider deregulation and tax-cutting plans announced at conference. Search interest in “state pension” has spiked in the UK as the row has developed, reflecting widespread public concern over how much pensioners could end up paying.
