SIR – Tweaking the triple lock would mean that pensioners miss out on up to £74 a year (report, September 13).
Meanwhile, the NHS and Civil Service have received unusually high increases in bonuses as a response to strikes. How come the increase in pensions is seen as unaffordable, whereas public-sector bonuses are not?
In the private sector, bonuses are awarded for productivity. What improvements in performance have been identified to merit the NHS and Civil Service rewards?
Barry Kruger
Harrow, Middlesex
SIR – If working people do not like their salary level or find it eroded because of inflation, then they can take industrial action to try to remedy the situation, as we have seen over the past 12 months. Pensioners can do nothing, and are at the complete mercy of whoever is in government.
David Wilson
Cottingham, East Yorkshire
SIR – If inflation is high one year and wages catch up the next, it does not seem reasonable for pensioners to get the benefit of both.
The intention of the triple lock was to protect the state pension against inflation while allowing recipients to benefit when increasing national prosperity was reflected in rising wages. It should be possible to come up with a formula that maintains those principles, without unintended consequences.
Julian Gall
Godalming, Surrey
SIR – It should be remembered that the personal allowance has been frozen by the Chancellor until 2028. This means that any pensioner (and everyone else) in receipt of more than £12,570 per annum can expect the extra income to be taxed. A case of the Government giving with one hand and taking back with the other.
Janet Heath
Thrussington, Leicestershire
SIR – Do those who claim the triple lock is unsustainable believe that eroding it to a pittance is acceptable?
Gavin Roebuck
London N1
SIR – While some claim that the triple lock is unaffordable – or worse, that it is evidence of the greed of “Boomers” – I have seen almost no discussion of what sum would represent a reasonable level of state pension that would achieve the original aim of the triple lock.
I am therefore interested to see that a trial of universal basic income in England will use a payment level of £1,600 per month (not means-tested). It follows a trial in Wales involving 18-year-olds leaving the care system, who were also paid at this rate.
I do not advocate a universal basic income but clearly the triple lock has a very long way to run before the state pension will reach these heady levels.
Jim Watts
Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire
