‘I barely make ends meet at 92 – why I nonetheless help Burnham’s triple lock axe’

EXCLUSIVE: As Prime Minister Andy Burnham announces his radical plans to scrap the triple lock system, the Mirror hears from three pensioners about their views on the bold shake-up

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A tearful Andy Burnham was met with a standing ovation at this week’s Labour Party conference as he vowed to build a Britain his father would be proud of.

Promising a radical overhaul of care for the elderly as significant as the creation of the NHS, the Prime Minister announced he would scrap the pensions triple lock after the next election to pay for a new National Care Service in memory of his late dad Roy, who died earlier this month aged 86 after living with Alzheimer’s.

During the deeply emotional speech, Mr Burnham pledged to get Britain out of its rut with ‘honesty, ideas and a clear direction for the country we all love’. But the huge pension overhaul has proved controversial.

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Those in favour of the triple lock argue it protects pensioners from poverty, but its critics argue that it has become unsustainable and is unfair on younger taxpayers.

One of those who firmly opposes the triple lock reform is Mark Hewitt, a retired detective inspector who believes the proposed changes would be “massively unfair” for a vast proportion of pensioners. While the 66-year-old retired in 2022 on a comfortable pension, he’s aware that not everybody is so fortunate.

The former copper points towards a statement given by ex Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who highlighted that more than two million pensioners are currently living in poverty. Mark fears that this reform could tip them over the edge.

The Letchworth resident says: “I just feel it’s absolutely unfair on say somebody who is just about managing to keep up with daily costs, and then suddenly you’re taking away maybe a per cent or a couple of per cent a year, that might make all the difference.”

Mark, a father-of-two, questions how the NCS will be funded, even after taking into account money saved through the triple lock reform. He says: “As much as I love Mr Burnham’s idea of this social care national body, not dissimilar to the NHS, I don’t think it’s been properly funded, and I think the triple lock will nowhere near cover the cost of such a body. So where’s he going to get the money from? He’s either got to raise taxes, or he’s got to go and borrow the money.”

The ex detective has seen his wife’s parents having to go into care homes in the Home Counties, which proved “incredibly expensive”. He has doubts over how exactly the government is going to take over such businesses “without lots and lots of money changing hands”.

“Saddened” by the proposals, Mark also has concerns over what he views as older and younger people being pitted against each other, saying: “It’s symptomatic of I think some sort of political strategy that is pitching the younger generation against those who’ve retired, and I think that’s just wrong.”

But Johnathan ‘Jon’ Green, a former nurse and care home manager, takes an entireley different view. On top of his state pension, the 71-year-old has an NHS pension of £11,000, reduced because he took it early, after getting made redundant during the 2009-10 financial collapse. Thankfully, Jon was able to find other jobs until he turned 65, when he was made redundant again, at which point he could finally afford to retire.

Having become disillusioned by previous Labour governments, Jon holds out hope that Mr Burnham will look out for poorer people. He says: “As you can tell from the sort of career I chose to follow, I’ve always thought slightly more of looking after other people than climbing to the top of the heap myself.”

Jon says that the triple lock system has “felt sillier and sillier” to him over the years, particularly in a country where young people are struggling to get on the housing ladder. “I’ve always thought it was a bit ridiculous, and obviously supported particularly by the Tory party because of the demographics of their voters.

“It always felt a little bit unfair, and it felt more and more unfair to me considering the ridiculous way that house values have gone up disproportionately, and the lack of second entry-level jobs, the way technology’s changed this country.

“So, the younger people have got less and less opportunity of climbing up a ladder, and houses are more and more unaffordable. Meanwhile, there’s no council housing.” Jon would therefore prefer to see public money funnelled towards helping give younger generations a better start in life.

Meanwhile, David, a 92-year-old who has long grappled with the country’s failing social care system, is so desperate for proper social care that he would be willing to forgo the triple lock system for a National Care Service.

The pensioner suffered a stroke 14 years ago, and has struggled with the rising costs of social care since, making the triple lock vital for him. Even so, as a man with extremely limited mobility who lives alone in sheltered accommodation in the South Midlands, he says his need for consistent social care is greater.

David’s late wife sadly passed away several years ago, and his two adult children don’t live close enough to help out as much as they’d like. Unable to hold a pen or even a cup of tea, he has carers visiting four times a day, a necessity that comes with huge financial pressures.

He has a company pension from his days working on British Railways, but still “struggles to make ends meet” as a person with disabilities. With an insufficient care package, David pays extra for supplementary personal care and additional domestic support for two hours per week. If the NCS is rolled out, then David hopes he will “feel more supported”, with carers getting more time with him during visits.

“They would have time to do small things,” he says. “For instance, I’m unable to hold a pen or pencil, because the stroke affected both hands. I can’t hold a cup of tea, I drink with a straw. And if I write an email, I have to do it with a stylus and tap the keys with my fist into the keyboard.”

He added, “I was very impressed . Highly impressed . However, I ask myself, and I’m sure many other people in the community will do the same, how is it going to be implemented? And what procedure and policy is going to be coming out? Because I have a horrible suspicion this may get challenged by other parties at Westminster”

David’s experience won’t come as a shock to Mr Burnham, who has seen first-hand how deeply underfunded social care really is across the country.

“I’ve got personal experience of the system,” he’s said previously. “My dad has Alzheimer’s, and you see what the staff have to put up with. It’s not their fault. The system’s broken. You can’t leave social care like this.”

Mr Burnham also discussed his father during a speech about social care reforms earlier this summer. With his voice shaking slightly, the PM said: “Why am I doing this? For my dad and millions of people like him up and down the country.”

Mr Burnham claimed some care companies were more concerned with ‘profiteering’, but went on to praise care workers, including those who looked after his father. “I see so much good in terms of the journey that we’ve been on,” he said. “And I am talking about the people who’ve cared for my dad. Hundreds of them – we’ve seen, and we’ve watched.”

Explaining the proposed changes to the triple lock system, Maike Currie, VP Personal Finance at PensionBee, says: “The Prime Minister’s announcements about changing the State Pension may sound worrying, but they don’t mean the State Pension is being scrapped or frozen.

“Under the proposed double lock, it would still rise every year and remain protected against rising prices. The change is that it would no longer automatically rise in line with wages when earnings grow faster than inflation. For today’s pensioners, nothing changes for now: the triple lock remains in place for the rest of this Parliament.

“For people still working, this is the trade-off being proposed. In return for giving up the earnings link that has driven particularly strong State Pension increases in recent years, the Government would provide greater protection against care costs that can eat into a lifetime of savings and housing wealth.”

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