New state pensioners aged 77 will receive payments of up to £965.20 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in November following a triple lock change earlier this year. Men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953, receive the basic State Pension, but anyone born after these dates gets the new State Pension instead. New state pensioners are those who reached State Pension age from April 6, 2016, when the qualifying age was set at 63 to 65. This later continued to rise to age 66, meaning new state pensioners will now all be aged under 77.
While current claimants of the new State Pension have already seen their payments go up by 4.8% when rates were uplifted at the start of the new tax year on April 6, in line with the triple lock, those who are just reaching State Pension age this month will begin claiming their State Pension on the higher 2026 to 2027 rates from November.
The £241.30 maximum weekly rate for the new State Pension took effect on April 6, 2026, and pensioners will continue to reap the benefits of these higher payments in November – and every month that follows until next April.
As the State Pension is paid every four weeks, those who qualify for the full amount can expect payments of £965.20 from the DWP in each four-week payment period.
Over a full year, this amounts to £12,547.60 in pension payments to give those eligible for the full rate an extra £574.60 annually in the 2026 to 2027 tax year.
Of course, the figures are based on the maximum possible amount for those with a full qualifying National Insurance record, so those without enough qualifying years will receive less.
So if you don’t have a full National Insurance record then your new State Pension will be less than £965.20 every four weeks in the current tax year.
Pensioners can determine when State Pension payments will land in their bank account in November by checking their National Insurance number. The last two digits correspond to the day of the week that payments are normally issued as follows:
20 to 39 – paid on Tuesday
40 to 59 – paid on Wednesday
60 to 79 – paid on Thursday
80 to 99 – paid on Friday
The DWP said: “You’ll be asked when you want to start getting your State Pension when you claim. Your first payment will be no later than 5 weeks after the date you choose. You’ll get a full payment every 4 weeks after that.
“You might get part of a payment before your first full payment. The letter confirming your State Pension payment will tell you what to expect.
“The day your pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number. You might be paid earlier if your normal payment day is a bank holiday.”
This year, average wage growth between May and July the previous year was the highest measure at 3.9%, sitting above inflation at 3.5% and the minimum 2.5% increase.
The 3.9% increase will take the full new State Pension from £241.30 per week to £250.70 per week in the 2027 to 2028 tax year – a weekly increase of £9.40. This amounts to a maximum of £13,036.40 in State Pension payments per year for pensioners entitled to the full rate, giving claimants an extra £488.80 annually.
From April 2027, people above State Pension age with total income up to and including the value of the new State Pension will not pay Income Tax thanks to the introduction of a new Pension Tax Allowance.
Budget documents issued on Wednesday, October 28, confirmed that the triple lock will stay in place until 2030, despite being reduced to a ‘double lock’ in 2030, with the savings from this to be used to help fund a new National Care Service.
Chancellor John Healey said in his Budget speech: “The Prime Minister has already announced that from 2030 we will adjust the Triple Lock, so that the State Pension rises every year and keeps pace with earnings and inflation. This will save £15bn per year by the end of the 2030s, £50bn by 2050.
“A new settlement for older generations: a rising State Pension and a National Care Service that is there when older people need it, taking the burden off families, taking the burden off our NHS.”
