Temporary adjustments to the state pension triple lock could help break the reported stalemate between Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, according to Aegon pensions director, Steven Cameron.

He suggested that the method for calculating the state pension increase could benefit basing any increase in April 2022 on data from a two-year period rather than the current system of 12-month evaluation.

Cameron argued that pensioners would be “much more likely to accept” this two-year averaging if they were told "sooner rather than later".

Cameron’s statement comes after a report from The Times which claimed that Johnson and Sunak disagree over the fate of the triple lock, with Johnson reportedly anxious to avoid alienating older voters.

The current method sees state pensions rising by whichever is higher out of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent, though there are fears that this could lead the state pension to skyrocket in 2022.

Willis Towers Watson have previously warned that a post-pandemic economic recovery under the current rules could lead state pensions to jump by as much as 21.3 per cent over a two-year period, with Cameron noting that sharp rises like this could come as those of working age simply return to pre-coronavirus earning levels.

While Cameron noted that the current system had “been an important means of offering fairness between generations and dignity in retirement”, he added that “the formula was set in a very different pre-Covid age when price and earnings growth tended to be relatively stable year-on-year”.

He continued: “Blindly following that formula now as we move through and out of the coronavirus crisis with huge distortions to average earnings expected could create bizarre results which were never intended, and which would fail any test of intergenerational fairness.”

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