State pensioners born in these years handed £666 to £916 pay rise from DWP

State pensioners are being handed £916 free in their state pension payments in a handy boost ahead of Christmas. The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) will uprate your state pension by as much as £916 and you don't actually have to do anything.

If you choose to defer your state pension by a year, the total you’re paid when you do collect it will increase. For every nine weeks you delay taking your state pension, the payout rises by one percent, which adds up to a 5.8 per cent boost per year, or £666.

For those on the old pension, born before 1949 could get an extra 10.4 per cent added to their £169.50 state pension per week, making for a total of £916 extra per year deferred. The government explains: “You do not get your State Pension automatically - you have to claim it. You should get a letter no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do.

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“You can either claim your State Pension or delay (defer) claiming it. If you want to defer, you do not have to do anything. Your pension will automatically be deferred until you claim it.” For every 9 weeks you defer, you'll get an extra 1%, which is around an extra £2.20 a week.

If you defer for a full year, you get 5.8% extra, which is £12.83 a week. On current figures, a one year deferral would net you an extra £667 a year on your state pension, for life. Yet, do note that to get this, you'll have given up £11,500 in state pension that you could have claimed in the first year.

In general, if you defer for any amount of time, you'd need to live for around 20 years after taking your state pension to even out the amounts... which is around the time an average 66 year old is expected to live, Money Saving Expert has said.