Burnham vows to end existing pension triple lock in 2030 to help fund care
Burnham links pension reform to plans for a national care service
Ninoda.com – Andy Burnham has used his first Labour Party conference address as prime minister to outline a wide-ranging programme for Britain, placing social care at the centre of his ambitions and proposing a change to the state pension triple lock from 2030.
His proposal would retain annual state pension increases of at least inflation or 2.5%, while ending the automatic rise in line with average earnings. Burnham said the savings generated over time would be directed towards building a national care service in England, with care free when it is needed.
The speech in Liverpool, delivered before a packed conference hall and attended by relatives and friends, ranged across housing, water, energy and possible electoral reform. Burnham presented the agenda as an attempt to move the country beyond political conflict and restore faith in collective action.
“The state pension will continue to rise every year at least by prices or 2.5%.”
A change planned for 2030
The triple lock was introduced by the coalition government in 2010. It currently means the state pension rises each April by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5%. Its purpose was to prevent pension incomes falling behind both living costs and the earnings of people in work.
Burnham said the existing arrangement would remain until 2030. After that, he wants to alter its earnings element while maintaining protections designed to ensure pensioners continue to benefit from national prosperity over the long term.
“And it will hold its value relative to earnings over time so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation.”
Officials have suggested the policy could produce annual savings of £15bn by 2040. However, the financial impact would build gradually rather than deliver a large immediate sum. Jonathan Cribb, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the savings would probably be modest in the early years before increasing substantially later.
Cribb also cautioned that the proposal should not be viewed as enough on its own to finance universal social care during the next Parliament. That distinction matters because Burnham’s wider care plan is intended to be developed for voters to consider at the 2029 general election, rather than introduced immediately.
Care reform at the heart of the agenda
Burnham described a national care service as a defining reform, comparing its importance to the creation of the NHS and arguing that social care is essential to the health service’s future. He said the new system would be fully funded and would not rely on borrowing.
For people with limited means, the proposal is intended to address the prospect of care costs being taken from a small pension income. Burnham said older people receiving only the state pension, or little beyond it, can currently face care charges from that income.
“Some may not realise it but older people with nothing more than the state pension, or only a little more, can find themselves paying care charges today from that small income. Under my plan, this will no longer happen.”
He acknowledged that revisiting the triple lock could carry a political cost, particularly because pension policy affects millions of voters and because the mechanism has become a prominent protection for retirement incomes. But he argued that reform required a willingness to confront difficult choices.
“Someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.”
The emotional case for change was also personal. Burnham recalled experiences in his own family, including an incident in which his grandmother Kitty’s engagement ring was stolen while she was living in a care home. He referred too to his father, Roy, who died earlier this month, pausing at points in the address as he spoke about him.
Broader plans for Britain
Beyond care and pensions, Burnham said he wanted greater public control in housing, water and energy, while also raising the prospect of reforming the UK’s electoral system. Some of these ideas appeared to be part of a longer-term political offer rather than announcements of immediate government action.
He framed the programme around the phrase “All Together Now”, the title of the song by Liverpool band The Farm that accompanied his entrance. The phrase became a broader appeal for unity after what he called a decade marked by division.
“Draw a line on a decade of division.”
Burnham urged the audience to reject a culture of pessimism, saying people should stop “doomscrolling” through material that portrays Britain as failing. He also reflected on his family’s working-class aspirations and said his government wanted to make similar opportunities more attainable for others.
Opposition to the pension proposal emerged quickly. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham argued that the government should use another funding route, such as a wealth tax, rather than changing the triple lock. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Labour’s plans would make further tax rises unavoidable. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused Burnham of targeting older people, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said families should not have to wait for another election and that the poorest pensioners should not bear the cost.
The debate now turns on whether a revised pension guarantee can protect retirement incomes while releasing enough money to transform care. Burnham’s answer is that the state pension will still rise every year, but that the balance of public spending must shift if England is to create a national care service intended to prevent people with modest incomes from being charged for essential care.
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