DWP prepares to pay state pensioners free £472 directly into bank account
The exact amount state pension will rise by in April and how to check how much you’ll get has been revealed as the Cost of Living crisis continues. It comes as the new Labour Party government prepares its Autumn Statement and Budget on Wednesday.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is preparing to give state pensioners a payments rise by hundreds of pounds from next April. Fresh figures released earlier this month revealed the benefit will increase by up to £472 annually.
The current full new state pension is worth £11,502.40 a year, with a 4.1% rise seeing this go up to £11,973.99 - around £472 more a year. Your state pension will only go up this much if receive the maximum amount, currently £221.20 a week.
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AJ Bell research shows if you have ten qualifying National Insurance years then your weekly payment will go up from £63.20 to £65.79, or £134.68 more a year. Someone with 15 will see their payments rise from £94.80 a week to £98.69 a week, of £202.28 extra a year.
A pensioner with 25 NI years will see their weekly state pension go up from £158 to £164.48 - £336.96 over the course of the year. Someone with 30 NI years will see their yearly payment rise by £404.04, or £7.77 extra a week.
Under the triple lock system, the state pension increases each April in line with whichever of these three measures is highest: inflation in the September of the previous year, using a measure called the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) or the average increase in total wages across the UK for May to June of the previous year or 2.5%.
The triple lock was introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010. It was designed to ensure the value of the state pension was not overtaken by the increase in the cost of living or the incomes of working people.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the Labour government will keep the triple lock until the end of the current Parliament.