Andy Burnham to alter pension triple lock from 2030 to fund care service

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed plans to alter the state pension triple lock starting in April 2030 to help finance a new National Care Service, delivering a major policy address during his inaugural Labour Party conference speech in Liverpool on Tuesday, 29 September 2026. The announcement addresses a social care crisis that the Prime Minister described as worse today than when he entered parliament in the early 2000s.

Speaking to delegates, Mr Burnham pledged to keep the triple lock unchanged throughout the current parliament, honouring a manifesto promise that he said would take the state pension to a record high. However, he stated that from April 2030, the mechanism would be adjusted so that the pension rises each year by at least prices or 2.5%, while holding its value relative to earnings over time. According to figures released by the Labour Party, the adjustment will generate significant savings, estimated at £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s and rising to £50 billion a year by 2050.

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The Prime Minister acknowledged the political risks of the move, declaring that someone had to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off to fix a broken system. He recounted his family's experiences, including his grandmother's engagement ring being stolen in a care home.

"What an indictment of my generation of politicians, myself included, too cowardly to fix something as basic as the care we give to each other"

Andy Burnham, Prime Minister, via Politics.co.uk

The overhaul is intended to establish a National Care Service, ensuring that individuals no longer have to pay care charges out of modest incomes. The Prime Minister noted that Baroness Louise Casey’s review of social care will advise on how to build the system, with the government seeking maximum national consensus before introducing proposals in the next parliament. He insisted the service would be fully funded and not reliant on borrowing.

The announcement immediately drew warnings and criticism from trade union leadership. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, warned on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that scaling back the triple lock would be electoral suicide and morally wrong. Ms Graham argued that targeting pensioners, who receive some of the lowest payouts in the G7, was the wrong approach when wealth taxes on the richest families could be explored instead.

Political opponents were quick to attack the package. Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake argued that hope was not a strategy, stating that Mr Burnham needed to admit that Labour tax rises had crushed businesses and that the government lacked a plan to control the welfare bill.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage similarly condemned the potential shift, arguing that the government should target the benefits bill or foreign aid instead of launching an offensive against elderly residents.