What is triple lock? What you need to know amid speculation over reform

• Plans are reportedly being considered by Andy Burnham to reform or axe the pension triple lock to fund a new national care service.
• The policy guarantee ensures the state pension increases every year to keep up with rising costs and other financial pressures. The rate increases year-on-year by whichever is highest: inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 per cent.
• Former chief secretary Darren Jones suggested that reallocating triple lock spending could help support older people within the social care system.
• Independent analysis shows pensioners would be £1,227.20 a year worse off if the state pension had been linked to inflation rather than the triple lock since 2011.
• Experts and think tanks such as the Resolution Foundation have urged introducing alternative models, including a smoothed earnings link, to lower state pension costs.

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Pension triple lock: How could Labour scrap it, and what would it cost state pensioners?