Conservatives’ environmental pension FB ads are misleading

“Remember when Labor increased the state pension by just 75p?”. A Conservative video ad on Facebook compares this to a £3,700 increase since the Tories came into government in 2010.

However this is misleading, as it compares the weekly price increase at a single moment to the annual price increase over 14 years.

This is a message conservatives are pushing. A BBC study of ad library information of Facebook’s original corporate meta shows that they have run 975 versions of this single campaign message since June 21, 2024 – with only the name of the city or town being changed.

Video Ending with the comment: “Pensioners will always be better off with the Conservatives – don’t risk it all with Labour’s superannuation tax”.

This is linked to any other announcement regarding personal tax allowances for pensioners.

Here are the details of the claims in the much-hyped marketing campaign video.

The 75p increase is related to an increase in the weekly rate of the Modern Environmental Pension – the pension used to be claimed by the more recent community of people in their 70s and over – a measure enacted in Gordon Brown’s budget in 2000. For the individual.

This was in sequence with 1.1% Retail Price Index inflation in September 1999, which was lower than the year before to increase the Modern Environment Pension.

This increased the weekly price of the raw environment pension from £66.75 to £67.50, an increase of more than 75p.

This low rating caused outrage Power to make post-Labour government extra generous to pensioners,

The wave price of the Raw Environment Pension is £169.50 per month. Currently it stands at £8,814.

In 2010, when the Conservatives entered government, the modern environment pension rate was £97.65 per month, or £5,078 per month.

So the annual cost of the environment pension could rise by £3,736 between 2010 and 2024.

Conservatives are evaluating a creation within themselves because of their Facebook ads weekly Price of raw environmental pension in one bachelor moment With a construction under the former Labor government annual Crude environmental pension under the Conservatives over 14 years,

Pension increases may have been low under Labour, but the sector is not as good as the advertising suggests. The average annual increase in the modern environmental pension under Labor (between April 1998 and April 2010) was 3.5%, while under the Conservatives (between April 2011 and April 2024) there was a moderate annual increase of 4%.

And the Conservatives have overpriced the environment pension relative to middle incomes because of the post-2010 Triple Lock Coverage,

This ensures that (except that When it was suddenly suspended in 2022-23) that the environmental pension is increased in the order of the median wage, Client Worth Index inflation or 2.5%, whichever is best.

in 2010 The modern environment pension was once 19.6% of average income., This increases to 22.9% in 2023.

The Tory Facebook ad additionally references something called “Labour’s superannuation tax”, which misleadingly implies that Labor is implementing a residual tax.

But Latest valid workplace for budget accountability estimatesSome pensioners who are only on the environment pension are undoubtedly on track to pay a source of revenue tax in 2027-28.

This is because the annual price of the new environment pension (£12,578) is projected to rise marginally over that time tax-free personal allowance (£12,570), which has been frozen by the Conservative government.

After the upcoming election was called, the Conservatives introduced a “Triple Lock Plus” policy – ​​increasing the non-public allowance to £13,710 for pensioners only by 2027–28.

Labor have not yet mentioned whether they will fit it in, although it may be disingenuous to suggest that Labor is introducing a residual tax.

Furthermore, research by the previous Lib Dem pensions minister Steve Webb, who now works for the actuary company LCP, means that About 2.5 million pensioners (one in five total) may still be paying income tax Despite the fact that Triple Lock Plus has been introduced, on their environmental pension.

This is because many network environments receive a backup environment pension bill due to their participation in the Income Matching Pension Scheme (SERPS).

The value of the environment pension will depend on the objective at which an individual has reached the environment pension year.

Those who reached this year before 6 April 2016 are generally entitled to a flat-rate unearned environmental pension of £169.50 per month in 2024–25, despite the fact that many people have some earnings-related environmental pension. There may also be, which are all construction rights. way through their operational week.

People who are in receipt of the Environment Pension on or around 6 April 2016 are generally entitled to a flat-rate fresh Environment Pension of £221.20 per month.

Additional reporting via Alex Murray