Rachel Reeves has been urged to stop treating pensioners as an “easy target”, as MPs prepare to debate demands to scrap what critics are calling a “ludicrous” tax rise affecting millions of older people.
Parliament will soon examine a petition backed by 119,000 signatures calling for support for pensioners after the Chancellor confirmed that income tax thresholds will stay frozen until April 2031. Critics say this will push around a million people who rely only on the state pension into paying income tax.
Many more pensioners with small workplace or private pensions are already being brought into the tax system. Opponents argue this undermines Labour’s promise to protect the Triple Lock, which ensures the state pension rises each year in line with inflation or earnings.
The petition under debate calls for a special tax code for pensioners, with a higher tax-free allowance. It argues that while most pensioners would benefit, higher-income retirees would still pay tax.
Sally Tsoukaris of the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance, speaking for Later Life Ambitions, said pensioners had “worked hard, paid tax all their lives” and planned retirement expecting the state pension to offer basic security. She warned they were now being “quietly pulled into paying more tax”.
She added that freezing the personal allowance while pensions rise meant more older people—often with only modest incomes—were being drawn into the tax net, and said the government should stop “treating pensioners as an easy target” if it wants dignity in retirement.
A separate petition from Silver Voices, signed by 208,000 people, is calling for the tax threshold for pensioners to be raised by £1,000 and then increased over time.
The full state pension is currently £12,547 a year, while the income tax threshold has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021. The freeze, extended by Rachel Reeves in last year’s Budget until 2030–31, means the state pension is expected to become taxable from next year due to fiscal drag.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that around one million additional people could end up paying income tax because of the policy.
Silver Voices director Dennis Reed called it “ludicrous” that the state pension—funded through years of national insurance and tax—would effectively be taxed again, warning it could push more pensioners into hardship.
Ministers have previously said that those whose only income is the full state pension would not pay income tax, though full details have not yet been set out.
A Treasury spokesperson said anyone relying solely on the full new or basic state pension would remain outside income tax, and said the government remains committed to the Triple Lock, which will raise pensions for around 12 million people by up to £470 this year. They also pointed out that the UK still has one of the highest personal allowances among major economies.
Research from Loughborough University suggests the cost of a “minimum retirement lifestyle” has risen to about £13,900 a year for a single person and £22,500 for a couple, covering essentials like housing, food, heating, transport, and a modest holiday.
Experts say the state pension alone is not enough for a comfortable retirement. Pensions UK estimates that only 82% of working-age people are saving enough for basic retirement needs, while just 23% are on track for a more comfortable lifestyle including extras like travel and a car.
Separate research from Independent Age found that only about half of eligible households claim Council Tax Reduction, leaving around £1.71 billion in unclaimed support. The charity says better awareness could lift tens of thousands of older people out of poverty, noting that the scheme can in some cases reduce council tax bills to zero.
