Reform backs pension triple lock
Reform leader Nigel Farage has formally committed to the state pension triple lock if Reform UK win the next election
“The people to whom pensions are being paid, certainly compared to a younger generation today, are those who have actually worked and paid into the system,” he said in an address on Thursday (02 April)
The move comes despite past scepticism from party leader Nigel Farage, who has previously described the UK’s growing pensions bill as potentially “unaffordable on a national level” and suggested the policy remained “open for debate.”
It highlights an apparent alignment with Reform’s economy spokesman, Robert Jenrick, a strong advocate for the measure, after earlier signals of internal differences.
The triple lock guarantees that the state pension rises each year by the highest of three measures: inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5%. Introduced by the Conservatives, it has significantly boosted pensioner incomes.
The full new state pension is now worth about 14% more than it would have been if uprated solely in line with average earnings since 2011.
Votes over the economy
Reform sources indicated that committing to the triple lock could help the party “kill off” the Conservatives in the upcoming local contests.
The Tories have already pledged to retain the policy, with leader Kemi Badenoch emphasising that her party “created the triple lock and we stand by it.”
Demographic data on Reform’s voter base makes the calculus clear: roughly one-third of its supporters are over 65, another 30% are aged 50-64, and just 8% are under 24. Scrapping or weakening the lock risked alienating a core segment of its electorate.
Farage and Jenrick appeared at odds earlier this year. Jenrick, appointed as the party’s economics spokesman, voiced strong support for the triple lock, calling it essential for providing “dignity and security to older people.”
Farage, however, stopped short of a full endorsement at the time, leaving the door open for discussion.
The policy’s popularity among pensioners is no surprise, but it has drawn criticism for its intergenerational impact.
Detractors argue it disproportionately directs public resources toward older voters at a time when younger workers face pressures from housing costs, stagnant wages in some sectors, and broader fiscal strains.
Economists and official forecasters have long raised red flags about long-term costs. The Office for Budget Responsibility projected last year that maintaining the triple lock would add £15.5 billion annually to public spending by the end of the decade – nearly three times initial estimates when the policy was introduced.
Some analysts have warned that the triple lock could become increasingly unsustainable without broader reforms to public finances or the pension system itself.
