The state pension has gone up by 8.5% from today, with the new headline rate now £221.20 per week.
This is up from £203.85 per week for the full flat-rate state pension, equating to an increase of £902 per year. The increase means the full new state pension has gone up from £10,600.20 per year to £11,501.22.
Those who reached state pension age before April 2016 are paid the old basic state pension. This has gone up from £156.20 to £169.50 per week.
State pension increases are dictated by the ‘triple lock’ guarantee. The guarantee means it increases each April in line with whichever of these three measures is highest:
- inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the September of the previous year
- the average increase in wages across the UK
- 5%
The increase of 8.5% was set by September’s earnings figure and was confirmed in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement last year. Inflation stood at 6.7% in September 2023.
The state pension rates increase from the first Monday of every new financial year, which is today (8 April). Payments are made every four weeks by the Government to people who have reached the qualifying age and have paid enough in National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
The triple lock promise was introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government in 2010, with the aim of ensuring the value of the pension was not overtaken by the increase in the cost of living or the working population’s income.
There has been a lot of speculation about whether the triple lock will remain in place. The Conservatives have said they will keep the guarantee if they win the general election; Labour has also said it was committed to retaining the triple lock promise.
The triple lock was temporarily suspended after the Covid pandemic distorted average wage figures, but later restored.
