The Additional State Pension is an extra amount of money you could get on top of your basic State Pension. The Additional State Pension is an extra amount of money you could get on top of your basic State Pension.

The Additional State Pension is an extra amount of money you could get on top of your basic State Pension.

Additional pension rates from the Department for Work and Pensions are rising to £230.54 for 2026/27, the DWP has confirmed. The Additional State Pension is an extra amount of money you could get on top of your basic State Pension.

You get the Additional State Pension automatically if you’re eligible for it, unless you’ve contracted out of it. The Additional State Pension is paid with your basic State Pension.

The rates are rising to £230.54 – £922 a month. How much you get depends on how many years you paid National Insurance for, your earnings, whether you’ve contracted out of the scheme and whether you topped up your basic State Pension (this was only possible between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017).

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If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and started claiming the basic State Pension, you’ll automatically get any Additional State Pension you’re eligible for. There is no need to make a separate claim.

The Additional State Pension is made up of 3 schemes. You might have contributed to more than one, depending on how long you’ve been working and whether you chose to top up your State Pension.

The three schemes are State Second Pension, State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) and the state pension top-up.

This element of the state pension will rise according to inflation at 3.8 per cent from April. The DWP advises: “You could only contract out of the Additional State Pension if your employer ran a contracted-out pension scheme. Check with them.

“While you were a member of a contracted-out workplace pension you did not contribute to the Additional State Pension. In some cases, you could get the Second State Pension even if you did not contribute, for example if your earnings were low.

“You cannot contract out after 6 April 2016. If you were contracted out, your National Insurance contributions increased to your standard rate after this date.

“The extra pension you get from a contracted-out pension scheme is usually the same as, or more than, the Additional State Pension you would have got if you did not contract out.”