This is a worrying alternative to Burnham’s reform, in our Pension Minister’s opinion
This is exactly what I said was their plan earlier today – she just gets the credit for spelling it out torstenbell.substack.com/p/the-future…
— Torsten Bell (@torstenbell.bsky.social) October 2, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Torsten Bell has not been very noisy about pension since he became Pensions Minister , at least not on social media. But last week he broke his temperance to swing in behind the state pension
Whether he was the architect of the reformed triple lock we don’t yet now but it has a remarkable similarity to ideas that have been floating around in the IFS and Resolution and he certainly seems confident about how it will actually work (more than most of those on social media!)
We’re honouring our promise, keeping the Triple Lock for the rest of this Parliament. The full new State Pension will rise by £2,000+, reaching a record high relative to earnings by 2029/30. This will see the permanent reversal of Thatcher’s decoupling of the SP from wages. pic.twitter.com/mwduSyKtOv
— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) October 2, 2026
There is a lot in the Sub stack link but I’ll pick up on the question that Steve Webb and Andy Young picked up on minutes up after the announcement.
I am pleased we have this proposal and though it will need continuity between this Government and the next , I hope that there will be cross party support for change. This radical change to the state pension should take us a someway towards social care being affordable enough to be on the NHS.
It is a shame that one of my good pension friends has so lost confidence in the development of pension policy. I hope that he will step away from the path that he is on!
Torsten Bell wants control of our pensions. We must stop him https://t.co/QvcpXKyMIZ
— Tom McPhail (@PensionsMonkey) March 19, 2026
This adds to a blaze of incoherent assaults on our pension minister which don’t do any good.
One can only hope that one day, people like @TorstenBell and his Marxist friends suffer old age with deprivation and hardship, so that they are forced to reflect on the errors of their warped and vindictive ideology.
— Nigel Bennett (@top1percentile) October 2, 2026
We were lucky to keep Torsten Bell as Pension Minister when Andy Burnham became prime minister. The Pension Schemes Act, the ongoing development of CDC and now the reform of the state pension and of long term care are an achievement in two years.
We are seeing an unfortunate tendency among those on the right wing and I hope it comes to nothing.
Linking reform of the State Retirement Pension and the reform of subsidies for Care is just the usual political hocus-pocus. The two have nothing to do with each other. If the SRP needs reform, reform it – don’t blub about Care. And if Care subsidies need reform, likewise do so without making limp-wristed references to pensions.
And, oh blogger, you ought to know that no politician should ever be referred to as brave unless he’s prepared to do something about the bloody NHS.
Time to anticipate yet another raid on pension funds of the prudent.
The magic bullet solutions just move the risk to the individual.
Time for plan B
Time to anticipate yet another raid on pension funds of the prudent.
The magic bullet solutions just move the risk to the individual.
Time for plan B
Agreed JM. There is a philosophical gap over the respect of private property rights that fuels this, and more.
I’ve recently encountered discussions about the nations £6trn of capital market assets, and the genuine glee of some as they eye this up for mandation or confiscation to continue with our ruinness approach to social security.