We continue with our General Election 2024 and pensions updates with Plaid Cymru / Party of Wales (Plaid) manifesto launch (Plaid Cymru. For fairness. For ambition. For Wales. Manifesto 2024).
Plaid’s offer will be familiar if you’ve read earlier posts in this series. There are promises which have been set out by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour, combining to produce a ‘best of all worlds pension offer’, with a particular focus on mineworkers (which, as a proportion of the population, is a bigger issue in Wales than in the rest of the UK).
Being a ‘best of all world offer’, this would come at a cost, with Plaid positioning themselves to the left of Labour in a similar place occupied by the Green Party.
| Policy area | Manifesto text | Comment | Page |
| State Pension – triple lock | Keep the triple-lock pension increase which means that the state pension will keep pace with price increases and the cost of living. | This maintains the status quo on retaining the State Pension triple lock on increases. | 40 |
| Pensions taxation | Plaid will also increase the income tax personal allowance for pensioners in line with the triple lock. | With this commitment, Plaid essentially replicate the Conservative’s Triple Lock Plus offer. | 40 |
| Pensions taxation – War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme | Introducing an income disregard for the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme so that they aren’t considered as income for the purposes of benefits and pensions. | This is also a replica of the offer put forward by the Conservatives. Again, it falls within a broader package of measures aimed at supporting armed service veterans. | 53 |
| State pension – WASPI | Plaid Cymru support compensation for women who have been negatively impacted by the changes in pension provision, as highlighted by the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign (WASPI). We support compensation payments of at least Level 5 of the ombudsman scale for all 1950s women pensioners affected, amounting to between £3,000 and £9,950. | One of the few unambiguous statements offering full compensation for women impacted by the equalisation of state pension age (the other was set out by the Liberal Democrats). The current status of compensation for women adversely affected by state pension age increases is that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman issued a report in March 2024. This report contained a request for Parliament to identify how to provide an appropriate remedy for those who have suffered injustice due to maladministration on the part of DWP. The government has yet to confirm what it will do. | 68 |
| Mineworkers Pension Scheme | UK Government should relinquish its entitlement to the pension scheme’s investment reserve, and that they should transfer the billions already taken from the miners back to those former workers and their families. | Labour made the same commitment in their manifesto release half an hour after Plaid. | 37 |
About the author(s)
Ian is a London-based professional support lawyer (PSL) legal director. Ian is a member of our pensions and combined human resource solutions (CHRS) teams. He works with clients to solve their employment and pensions law issues. Ian maintains a particular focus on 'crossover' issues that benefit from his understanding of both areas of law.