The DWP has been urged by a petition to scrap the payments for those on higher income in their retirement.
DWP urged to scrap state pension for retirees on income over £50,000(Image: )
The Department for Work and Pensions has been told to “end” the state pension for retirees on income over £50,000. The DWP has been urged by a petition to scrap the payments for those on higher income in their retirement.
The petition urges: “We urge the Government to review existing state pension entitlements and introduce the following reforms: 1) end the triple lock 2) reduce entitlements for those on existing private defined benefit schemes with an income £20,000 + 3) end state pensions for incomes over £50k.
“We urge the Government to use additional money from these reforms to fund scrapping tuition fees for students. Current state pension benefits cost nearly £150 billion a year – we believe this is unsustainable.
READ MORE Four groups of state pensioners not getting £575 Triple Lock hike in April
“We believe those with the broadest shoulders should support an approach which keeps the Chancellor within her borrowing limits and protects priority departments, like the NHS & Defence.
“We believe young people need more help. We believe £50k in debt for students is too much.” 10,000 signatures are required to get a government response.
At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament. The Triple Lock is an uprating mechanism that was introduced by the Coalition Government, and first used in 2012-13, in recognition that the real value of the basic State Pension had fallen over many years.
It raises the State Pension annually in line with the highest of increases in prices, average earnings or 2.5%. It applies to the new State Pension for postApril 2016 pensioners, and the basic State Pension for older pensioners (but not to other elements of State Pension such as the additional State Pension which many older pensioners receive).
The price element of the Triple Lock is based on price increases in the 12 months to September as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), and this is also the measure of price inflation used for other elements of the State Pension and many social security benefits.
The previous Conservative Party government passed legislation to abandon the earnings element of the Triple Lock in April 2022-23 on the grounds that the over 8% increase in July’s average earnings was unusually high due to a ‘covid-related distortion’.