LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s publicly funded state pension will increase by 8.5% from April 2024, finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday.
The increase is based on average earnings data published in September and was in line with the government’s “triple lock” policy on pension changes.
The triple lock is a government promise to raise the value of publicly funded pensions by whichever is highest out of the level of earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
Ahead of Hunt’s budget update statement, media reports had suggested he could raise the pension by a lower figure to save the public purse nearly 1 billion pounds a year.
“Today we honour our commitment to the triple lock in full,” Hunt said, adding it was “one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension”.
(Reporting by William James, Farouq Suleiman, David Milliken and Alistair Smout)
