State pensioners living in Spain issued Triple Lock warning

If European Union expats are planning to bank their next financial year via the Triple Lock increase, then they should think again, according to experts.
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


State pensioners living in Spain have been issued a Triple Lock warning by experts. If European Union expats are planning to bank their next financial year via the Triple Lock increase, then they should think again, according to experts.

In a warning, Majorca Daily Bulletin explained how Brit pensioners will "take a hit". British pensioners living in Mallorca have suffered the highest rate on inflation in Spain this year, where prices across the Balearics rose by 3.2 % between January and August 2024 compared to the same period last year.

This represents the highest accumulated rate of inflation of all the regions of Spain. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), in August the consumer price index (CPI) rose in region by 0.3 % compared to July and by 2.3 % compared to the same month in 2023.

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A senior Tory MP, one of the few remaining in parliament, told the Bulletin last month, that the new Labour government “is reneging on the triple lock (are you surprised?) in which case it will impact upon all - including ex- pats - in receipt of UK state retirement pension if they have previously been updated (some are already frozen of course).

“But, having looked into this it appears to be based upon the impact of the earnings figures element of the formula and is not the direct result of a change in government policy. Only in the sense that they may get less than the increase that they were hoping for next year but that is as a result of the way that the triple lock formula works. Percentage increases can go down as well as up!”

Under the triple lock system, the state pension increases each April in line with whichever of these three measures is highest: inflation in the September of the previous year, using a measure called the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) or the average increase in total wages across the UK for May to June of the previous year or 2.5%.