A new online petition is calling on the UK Government to set a minimum level of weekly State Pension payments of £380 for every retiree, arguing that the current rates are “far too low”. It is also asking for the official age of retirement to be lowered from 66 back to 60 for both men and women.
The current State Pension payment rates are worth up to £185.15 for those on the New State Pension and up to £141.85 for people receiving the old, Basic State Pension. State Pension is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and increases every April as part of the Triple Lock rule, however, this was temporarily suspended until April 2023 as a direct result of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Petition creator, Michael Thompson, said that increasing the payment rate to everyone to £380 per week would result in an annual income of £19,60. He said this new level of payment “should lift thousands out of poverty, and give our elderly folk more spending power” which in turn would help to grow the economy.
The ‘Increase State pensions to £380 a week, and lower retirement age to 60’ petition has been posted on the petitions-parliament website and has already received more than 7,450 signatures of support (at time of writing). At 10,000 signatures the UK Government is obliged to respond.
The petition states: “The British State Pension is far too low. We want the [UK] Government to increase the basic State Pension to £19,760 a year (£380 a week), and extend this to anyone aged 60 or over. This should lift thousands out of poverty, and give our elderly folk more spending power and help grow the economy.
“The [UK] Government should restore the State Pension age back to 60 for men and women, because, people should not have to wait until their mid to late 60's to claim the State Pension, as many people have worked from a young age, and their health deteriorates long before they are able to claim the State Pension.”
The petition is set to close on December 8, 2022 and can be viewed on the petitions-parliament website here.
What is the Triple Lock rule?
The Triple Lock rule ensures that State Pension increases each year in line with whichever is highest of inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) - currently 10.1%, average earnings, or 2.5%.
The average earnings benchmark was suspended for the 2022/23 financial year, but the DWP has insisted this was a temporary measure and the Triple Lock will be reinstated for the 2023/24 financial year.
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