This is not the first time the triple lock has come under fire. In 2017 an independent review commissioned by the Government recommended scrapping the protection.
Alistair McQueen of Aviva, a pension provider, said the triple lock had done its job, which was originally to boost pensioners’ incomes in retirement. The guarantee was introduced by David Cameron’s coalition government in 2010 to close the income gap between workers and pensioners. Retirement incomes are at an all-time high in real terms and the average gross income of a pensioner household is 10pc higher than in 2008.
Mr McQueen said: “If we are ‘all in it together’ there is a strong argument for downgrading the triple lock to a double lock. But, for the well-being of tomorrow’s pensioners, this must not be a one-way street.”
If tomorrow’s retirees are to expect less from the state pension, they must be helped to secure more from their private pensions, he said.
But how much would it cost pensioners if one of the locks were to be removed?
If the Government had not set up the triple lock mechanism in 2010, today’s pensioners would be worse off to the tune of £10.10 a week or £525 a year, according to figures compiled for Telegraph Money by Hymans Robertson, a pensions consultancy.
A double lock would have increased the old state pension by £8 per week. This means that, had the Government left the 2.5pc minimum out of the original guarantee, retirees would be £2.10 worse off a week, or £109.20 worse off each year.
Over the 11-year period, the state pension was increased by this leg of the triple lock a total of four times. However, it has not been used for the past three years, as inflation and wage growth have been higher than 2.5pc.