>> >> Fair enough, the wage rise figure was an anomaly.
>>
>> Agree. Either a double lock (RPI v 2.5%) or some work is needed on a
>> wage formula that irons out pandemic related creases.
Yes, but what? What provision is there to ensure that pensions grow at least as fast as earnings over a period say 2019-2022? It's not the actual level of wages relevant to the next rise that is the issue it's the depressed level of the prior year. The triple lock was consciously designed to raise pensions - using the best of 3 is bound to beat all 3 conditions over time. The idea was clearly to move gradually to a decent level of state pension.
The right thing to do would have been to establish the underlying increase in wages.
Still it was expected, and they'll get so much flak anyway that they needn't care about this - they hope. Pensioners vote, mostly Conservative, and there are a lot of them.
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