British pensioners issued warning over unexpected HMRC bills

Thousands of pensioners across the UK are at risk of getting unexpectedly taxed as the Triple Lock increases the state pension by around £460.

This means around 240,000 people could cross the personal allowance threshold of £12,570 next year and be faced with taxes, according to former pensions minister Steve Webb.

Former pensions minister says pensioners could receive unexpected tax bills

According to Birmingham Live, Sir Steve said: "From next year, roughly three in four UK pensioners will have to pay income tax, and just over a third of a million will be dragged into the tax net for the first time since they retired."

Victoria Harris, co-founder of The Curve Platform, added: "The potential revision of the earnings figure for the triple lock is a hot topic. While it's too early to pin down an exact number, we could be looking at an increase of around 7 to 8 per cent based on current projections."

She said "This would be a significant boost for pensioners" but warned: "We must consider the broader economic implications. Inflation is the wild card here. If it continues to rise in the coming months, we might see even higher pension increases.

"This could be a double-edged sword - great for pensioners in the short term, but potentially challenging for the economy as a whole."

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Yiannis Zourmpanos, financial consultant and senior contributor at Bountii, added: "The Office for National Statistics (ONS) often revises its earnings data, which means the state pension increase you’re expecting might not be the one you’ll get.

"The ONS has been known to provide updated figures that more accurately reflect the actual earnings growth over a given period.

"This means that by the time the final calculations are made, we could see a different percentage being used for the state pension uprating."