Pensions Triple Lock

Josh Fenton-Glynn Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I can certainly assure the pensioners of West Dunbartonshire that the state pension will continue to rise in each and every year. That is true for his constituents and true throughout Scotland. I can also assure his constituents that funds released from this package will flow to the Scottish Government to spend on social care, if they so wish, because we believe that the social care system throughout the UK is in need of improvement. Through this new settlement, that can happen.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

The need for a functioning care system has been clear for decades. The Dilnot report was published in 2011. The Care Act 2014 said that we would get such a system by 2016. That plan was then postponed till 2020, before being quietly scrapped entirely. Then, Boris Johnson rode to the rescue: he said that we would get it by 2021, then postponed it to 2023, and then said, “We’ll do it in 2025,” but had no funding.

What has that led to? It has led to more people in hospitals who do not need to be there. It has led to care workers earning only 39p an hour more than the minimum wage. Care work is skilled work; it should be treated that way. Will the Minister promise that we will not hide behind the triple lock, that we will not fumble the ball like the Conservative party did, and that, when Baroness Casey releases her report, we will actually implement it and make a change?

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend is right to say that there have been many reports and reviews over the years. There are differences this time. The first is that, in making the changes and putting forward this new settlement, we have identified a source of funding that will grow over the years and will help to fund the social care system. The second is political will. The Prime Minister has put this issue front and centre of his ambitions as Prime Minister, and front and centre of his speech to party conference a couple of weeks ago. He is putting his shoulder behind getting it resolved once and for all.