How would Triple Lock Plus affect me?

If you're over state pension age, your tax-free personal allowance would rise with the triple lock instead of staying frozen, so more of your pension income is tax-free. Use the calculator above to estimate your saving.

Is the state pension taxable?

Yes — the state pension counts as taxable income, though it's paid without tax deducted. Tax is only due if your total income exceeds your personal allowance.

Is Triple Lock Plus law?

No — it's a Conservative proposal, not government policy.

Triple Lock Plus: the Conservative pension tax plan + calculator

What's being proposed

A “Triple Lock Plus” (sometimes called a “quadruple lock”): the income-tax personal allowance for people over state pension age would rise each year by the triple lock — the highest of inflation, average earnings, or 2.5% — instead of staying frozen. The goal is that the tax-free allowance always stays above the full state pension, so no one pays income tax on the state pension alone.

Where it comes from

The personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021 (now until 2028), while the triple-locked state pension keeps rising. The full new state pension is £12,547.60 in 2026/27 — just £22 below the allowance. The number of over-65s paying income tax has roughly doubled since 2010. The Conservatives proposed Triple Lock Plus in their 2024 manifesto and reaffirmed it in a June 2026 Commons debate.

How it would work

Pensioners get a separate, higher personal allowance that rises with the triple lock; the working-age allowance stays frozen.
The Conservatives projected a saving of around £100 a year at first, rising to roughly £275 by 2030, for about 8 million taxpaying pensioners.
Estimated cost: around £0.8bn initially, rising to about £2.4bn a year by the end of the decade.

Interactive calculator

Will your pension income be taxed — and what would this save you?

Enter your total annual retirement income to compare the income tax you pay now (with the frozen £12,570 allowance) against a higher pensioner allowance under Triple Lock Plus.

A what-if, not a forecast. Triple Lock Plus is a Conservative proposal, not law. The higher pensioner allowance would rise with the triple lock each year, so its exact level is uncertain — you can edit it below. Income tax only (pensioners pay no National Insurance); Scottish rates and other reliefs aren't modelled. Not financial advice.

Your retirement income

Total annual income in retirement £ State pension plus any private/workplace pension and other taxable income. Pensioner allowance under Triple Lock Plus £ The tax-free allowance for pensioners. Frozen at £12,570 today; this is where a triple-locked pensioner allowance might sit.

Today's figures

Full new state pension 2026/27: £12,548. Standard allowance: £12,570 (frozen to 2028).

Income tax is modelled on 2026/27 UK rates (England, Wales & NI): 20% above the personal allowance to £50,270, 40% to £125,140, 45% above. Today's column uses the frozen £12,570 allowance; the Triple Lock Plus column uses the higher pensioner allowance you enter, with the higher-rate threshold held at £50,270 (as the Conservatives propose). National Insurance is not charged on pensions. Not financial advice.

The case for and against

The Conservatives argue

It stops pensioners being “dragged into tax” by frozen thresholds and a rising state pension.
It's a simple guarantee that the state pension itself is never taxed.
It rewards people who have worked and paid in over a lifetime.

Critics argue

The IFS and pensions analysts (LCP) note it largely just reverses the Conservatives' own allowance freeze.
Around 2.5 million pensioners with larger (mostly pre-2016) pensions would still pay tax.
It costs billions, favours pensioners over working-age people, and adds complexity with two different allowances. Labour's Chancellor has also said state pensioners will be protected from tax on the state pension — so the parties partly converge.

Sources & further reading

Chartered Institute of Taxation — tax and the state pension, explained.
Resolution Foundation — costing and impact of Triple Lock Plus.
Hansard — state pension and personal allowance debate, June 2026.

This is an opposition proposal, not government policy. The calculator is illustrative and not financial advice.

‘Triple Lock Plus’: would your state pension stay tax-free?