Triple lock temporarily suspended for 2022/23

The triple lock was suspended for the 2022/23 financial year, according to the House of Commons Library. The guarantee, which was announced by the coalition government in its first Budget after the 2010 election, was implemented from 2011/12 and has been applied every year since, "except for a temporary suspension in 2022/23 in response to volatile earnings growth following the coronavirus pandemic"¹.

Under the triple lock, the basic and new State Pension are uprated each year by the highest of earnings growth, inflation, or 2.5%¹. This sits above the statutory requirement to uprate both the basic and new State Pension every year at least in line with earnings¹.

The State Pension itself is split between two systems. The old State Pension covers people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016: men born before 6 April 1951 and women born before 6 April 1953¹. It has two tiers, the basic State Pension and the additional State Pension, the latter built up through the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) between 1978 and 2002 and the State Second Pension (S2P) from 2002 onwards¹. The new State Pension, introduced by the coalition government under the Pensions Act 2014, applies to people who reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016¹. Its full rate in 2026/27 is £241.30 a week, or £12,547.60 a year¹.

There were an estimated 13.2 million state pensioners in Great Britain in 2025/26. Around two thirds, 8.2 million, were claiming the pre-2016 State Pension, while 5.0 million were new State Pension claimants¹.

Source: House of Commons Library¹. From the 1940s until April 2010, State Pension age was 60 for women and 65 for men¹.

Why it matters for households

The suspension applied to one financial year only, 2022/23, and the triple lock has been applied in every other year since 2011/12¹. For that year, the usual formula of the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5% did not set the uprating. The statutory requirement to uprate the basic and new State Pension at least in line with earnings still applied¹.

The effect of any uprating depends on which State Pension a household receives. The old State Pension covers those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, and the new State Pension those who reached it on or after that date¹. The full new State Pension rate of £241.30 a week, or £12,547.60 a year, is the figure for 2026/27¹.

State Pension age is also changing. It is due to rise to 67 for both men and women between 2026 and 2028, and to 68 between 2044 and 2046¹. People born before the cut-off dates for the old system are not affected by the new State Pension rules¹.

What happens next

The Library does not set out any further scheduled suspension of the triple lock beyond 2022/23¹. It records the State Pension age increases to 67 between 2026 and 2028 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046 as due to take effect¹. Further detail on how the State Pension works is set out in the pensions hub.