Triple Lock must go to fund families, says think tank

It argues that increasing the state pension only in line with consumer price index inflation would generate savings rising to £8.4billion by the end of this parliament.

The think tank says those funds should be diverted into policies aimed at strengthening families and supporting children aged nought to twelve.

The report forms part of the CSJ’s wider "Lost Boys" programme, which has prompted debate over the educational, social and health outcomes facing boys across the United Kingdom.

The authors frame their recommendations as an essential "intergenerational transfer" away from pensioners and toward young families.

They call for what they describe as a "cultural reset" in which the Government actively champions marriage and paternal involvement.

Among the report’s key proposals is a fully transferable tax allowance for married couples, enabling spouses to share their entire personal allowance.

It also proposes that the state should subsidise wedding costs for lower income couples, covering up to £650 of fees for those in the bottom fifth of earners.

This support would be conditional on couples completing a marriage preparation course.

The CSJ argues that marriage provides greater stability than cohabitation, citing evidence that more than 90 per cent of children aged 15 who live with both parents have married parents.

The authors say reversing the decline in marriage rates could help keep fathers present in their children’s lives.

The report criticises existing early years policy for prioritising economic productivity over children’s welfare.

Instead of channelling funding through nurseries and childcare providers, the CSJ recommends that budgets should be paid directly to parents.

The think tank says this would allow families to care for children at home if they choose, rather than being pushed back into employment.

It also calls for child benefit to be concentrated in the earliest years, with payments of around £3,700 annually for each child aged nought to four.

The authors argue that current arrangements disadvantage families who rely on extended relatives for childcare or who prefer to provide care themselves.

The demographic data underpinning the report highlights that children are now twice as likely as pensioners to experience poverty.

Thirty one per cent of children live in hardship compared with sixteen per cent of older citizens.

The Triple Lock was introduced when roughly one in six pensioners faced relative poverty after housing costs.

The report notes that fertility rates have continued to decline, falling from 1.9 children per woman in 2010 to 1.41 in 2024.

It argues that fiscal choices increasingly favour older generations, describing Britain as having become a "gerontocracy."

The authors maintain that their proposals are not intended to penalise pensioners but to shift support toward those upon whom the country’s long term future depends.

The CSJ’s "Lost Boys" research sets out a bleak assessment of the challenges facing boys in modern Britain.

It states that around 2.5 million children grow up without a father figure, leaving the United Kingdom as a significant outlier among developed nations.

The report highlights that boys fall behind girls academically from the start of formal education through to university.

It adds that young males are twice as likely to be unemployed and more than three times as likely to take their own lives.

Health professionals cited in the report warn that excessive screen exposure among the youngest children is compounding behavioural and developmental issues.

The CSJ argues that many of the pressures facing boys become entrenched long before they are recognised in public policy.

It concludes that early intervention and targeted support for families in the first years of life offer the greatest opportunity to reverse these trends.