State Pension payment rates will change in April following an uprating.
State pensioners born before 1951 being handed £34 extra a week from DWP
The Department for Work and Pensions has greenlit an extra £8.45 a week for older state pensioners. State Pension payment rates will change in April following an uprating.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is boosting the basic state pension for retirees who were born before 1951 if they’re a man and 1953 if they’re a woman.
Men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953, receive the basic State Pension and today will see their pension payments increase by 4.8%, taking the full basic State Pension up from £176.45 per week to £184.90.
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This amounts to a weekly cash boost of £8.45 for those on the full rate – or £34 a month. Over a full year, pensioners can get a maximum of £9,614.80 in pension payments (up from £9.175.40 previously), giving those on the full rate an extra £439.40 annually.
The triple lock ensures that the State Pension doesn’t lose value over time, and in practical terms, guarantees that every year it will rise by the highest of average earnings, inflation (measured by the Consumer Prices Index) or 2.5%.
The State Pension age is currently being gradually increased from 66 to 67 between April 2026 and April 2027 for both men and women. A further rise to 68 is due between 2044 and 2046.
How much State Pension you’ll get depends on various factors. Two of the most important are when you were born and how many ‘qualifying years’ of National Insurance (NI) contributions you have.
You won’t get any New State Pension if you have less than 10 qualifying NI years when you reach State Pension age. If this is you, you may be able to buy NI contributions to get you over the 10-year mark.
Whether you get the full Basic amount (currently £184.90 a week) still depends on how many qualifying NI years you have.