State pensioners are set to receive another £488.80 extra added to their state pension payments from April 2027 now that the latest confirmed triple lock figures have been revealed.
The triple lock is the system by which the DWP must raise state pension payments every year. It means that pensions must rise by either wage growth, inflation or a flat 2.5%, whichever of the three is highest. Because wage growth is 3.9% but inflation is behind at 3.5%, and both are higher than 2.5%, it means wage growth will be used to calculate next April’s triple lock boost, at 3.9%.
This would put someone on the full new state pension on course to receive £250.70 per week from next April – up from £241.30 per week currently, and works out at a handy £1,086 per month in state pension payments from the DWP. The new state pension was introduced in 2016 and applies to all men born after April 5, 1951 and women born after April 5, 1953.
But older state pensioners, who retired before 2016, are only eligible for the old basic state pension. Even with a full National Insurance record, they will get less.
Someone on a full basic state pension would receive £192.10 per week, increasing from £184.90, reaching around £9,989 per year, under the new triple lock calculations.
It means older state pensioners get £114 less added to their annual state pension than new state pensioners, and the gap between the two will remain. A new state pensioner will get a total of £13,036 per year but an older state pensioner will only get £9,989.
Of course, older state pensioners can use Pension Credit to top up some of the difference, but only if they don’t have other savings or income as Pension Credit is means tested, whereas the state pension is not.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously said that from April 2030, Labour plans to adjust the triple lock, which is used to increase state pensions each April.
The state pension overhaul would help to fund a new National Care Service in England.
Under the plans, the state pension would continue to rise every year at least by CPI (Consumer Prices Index) inflation or 2.5%.
The door would still be left open to it rising by more than this if needed in some years, so that the state pension holds its value relative to average worker earnings.
