Pension plans 'not discriminatory', minister says

Plans to remove the "triple lock" system for some Manx state pensions are not discriminatory under the Equality Act, the treasury minister has said.

Concerns were raised in the House of Keys that changing the system for those who retired after April 2019 would be prejudicial.

Plans to introduce a new calculation for annual state pension uplifts to preserve the National Insurance Fund were outlined in January.

Treasury Minister Alex Allinson said there was a need to "regain control" over the uprating of the basic pension and the proposals did comply with the Equality Act.

Under the current "triple lock" system the state pension increases each year in line with CPI inflation, average earnings, or 2.5% - whichever is higher.

But a report, published in October, forecast that the £1.09bn fund would be exhausted by 2047-48 if that mechanism was retained.

The proposed change would see pensions rise by either 2% or inflation, whichever was higher, in what Allinson said was a Manx pension "double lock guarantee".

It would be applied to anyone who reached state pension age after 5 April 2019.

But a number of politicians voiced concerns that the changes were unfair for a specific group of people.

Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper asked how treating "different pensioners differently advances equality of opportunity".

Onchan member Julie Edge also raised fears that the legislation would be discriminatory for those people reaching Manx state pension age immediately after the cut off date.

And Douglas Central MHK Chris Thomas asked whether the Treasury minister had taken legal advice, as "there are fundamental differences between the UK and here".

However, Allinson said the act "expressively permits differences of treatments in certain circumstances", and there needed to be a change in policy over pensions.

He said: "It cannot be the case that the government is bound to continue providing it or indeed any other thing or service.

"If we do nothing the National Insurance Fund, which is one of the bedrocks of our welfare state, will run out."

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