WORKING pensioners are set to be £1,400 worse off due to a “triple whammy” of soaring inflation, a lower state pension and a tax rise on workers, Labour has warned. 

During an opposition day debate, shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth is set to argue that pensioners will be particularly badly hit by the cost-of-living crisis over the next two years.

The party’s analysis of House of Commons Library figures suggests that the average working pensioner will miss out on £770 in 2022-23 and £622 in 2023-24, it said. 

This is due to skyrocketing price rises knocking £300 off the real-terms value of the state pension over the next year and the new 1.25 per cent Health and Social Care Levy, which will apply to all workers, including working pensioners, from April 2023.

The levy will replace April’s temporary rise in National Insurance, which excludes pensioners.

Mr Ashworth accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “betraying working people” by engaging in “daylight robbery.”

A government spokesperson claimed it is providing £21 billion of additional support via pension credit, energy bill rebates and winter fuel payments.