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Andy Burnham has been warned he must not bow to demands to rip-up the pension triple-lock to appease policy boffins.

The incoming Prime Minister is facing calls to bring in “medium term reform” of the benefit to help with Britain’s long-term debt issues, a financial body says.

Paris-based group the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s have targeted the triple lock, which sees the state pension rise by inflation, average earnings of 2.5% in their latest survey on the United Kingdom.

Campaigner Dennis Reed, of Silver Voices told the Daily Express: “Just like other recent think tank reports, the OECD picks out the Triple Lock as a major economic problem, on the basis of flimsy evidence.

“This Report admits that the UK’s average public expenditure on pensions is relatively low, and that less of the economy (GDP) is spent on the state pension than other advanced economies. It fails to mention that the value of our state pension is much, much lower than almost all our economic competitors.

“At the end of the day it is a political choice to ensure UK retirees can live in dignity in their twilight years and so-called ‘sustainability’ is a chimera. Andy Burnham is advised to ignore this flawed report and stick to his guns in support of the Triple Lock.”

Their report brands the triple lock mechanism as “unusually generous” when compared with other models internationally.

This paper has long campaigned to protect the triple lock, joining campaigners who argue it is a vital source of income for pensioners.

But the OECD points to how the triple lock “amplifies” uncertainty of spending when it comes to earnings and inflation shocks.

The Paris-based body says the government’s effort should focus on setting the ground for lasting reform.

But Mr Burnham has said he will retain the triple lock saying that it is “important that the commitment in the manifesto stands”.

The government’s cost of living tsar Lord Richard Walker says the triple lock is “mathematically unsustainable”.