The triple lock isn't "immoral" - but pretending it can last forever might be, writes Dean Dunham KC

There is a serious argument buried under the theatrics. The triple lock guarantees the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent. Stack those "highest of" increases on top of one another, year after year, and the bill compounds relentlessly. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the policy to cost around £15.5 billion a year by 2030. With an ageing population and a shrinking pool of workers footing the bill, a future in which younger taxpayers pour ever more into a system they may never enjoy themselves is a genuine question of fairness.

Hunt is right that the maths is unsustainable in its current form. But immoral?

That's a stretch, and it could be argued a bit rich coming from him. This is the same Chancellor who stood at the despatch box and proudly committed to the triple lock "in full", then quietly froze income tax thresholds so that inflation dragged more and more pensioners into paying tax. You do not get to hand people a rise with one hand, claw much of it back with the other, and then call the rise itself the moral failing.

The honest position is this: the triple lock has done real good. It has arguably helped lift hundreds of thousands of pensioners out of poverty and narrowed the gap between retirees and working-age households.

It is also, in its current "ratchet up forever" design, a luxury the country will struggle to keep. Both things are true. Reform a smoothed link to earnings, perhaps, or a poverty-targeted floor, is a grown-up conversation worth having. Shaming twelve million pensioners is not.

So what should you actually do about it? Don't bet your retirement on a political promise that every party treats as sacred right up until the moment it isn't.

If you are still working, the most useful move is to lean on your workplace or private pension rather than the state one. Check you are contributing enough to capture every penny of your employer's match. Turning that down is leaving free money on the table. If you can, nudge your contributions up; even a small percentage increase compounds powerfully over decades.

Find your state pension forecast and National Insurance record at gov.uk, and check whether topping up missing NI years is worthwhile. And if you are near retirement and unsure, a regulated financial adviser is worth the fee.

The triple lock may survive this Parliament, but your plan should not depend on it surviving the next.

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Dean Dunham KC presents LBC's legal hour every Sunday from 8pm-9pm.

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