Guernsey pensions to rise by 6.8% in 2024

Deputies voted unanimously for the pension increase

Pensions in Guernsey will go up by 6.8% next year after deputies unanimously backed the increase.

Changes to how unemployment benefit is given have also been approved.

Proposals from Deputy Heidi Soulsby to consider reduced employer contribution rates for employees over the retirement age were also approved.

The scheme, from Deputies Soulsby and Marc Leadbeater, was put forward with the aim of allowing people to work for longer.

Plans to create a formal "double lock" were also given the nod by deputies.

Currently the informal double lock sees benefit rates increase by RPIX - a measure of inflation, equivalent to the Retail Price Index (RPI) excluding mortgage interest payments; plus one third of the real increase in median earnings or, if greater, by RPIX.

The agreed new policy would add a "look back" element to the current double lock, which would ensure that the one-third policy takes into account changes made in years when benefit rates were increased by RPIX.

A move to stop pensions credits being paid to unemployed parents, whose children are at secondary school, was also successful.