State pensioners aged under 76 as of now get a handy £1,045 of payments starting from April, it has been confirmed.
Younger state pensioners will get a £574 boost (Image: Getty)
New state pensioners are being handed as much as £1,045 a month starting this April following the latest Triple Lock boost.
The Triple Lock dictates that the state pension is guaranteed to increase every year based on one of three metrics – inflation, wage growth or a flat 2.5%, and this is protected by law for both the new post-2016 state pension and the older, basic state pension.
The DWP has confirmed that the Triple Lock will result in an almost £575 annual increase for new state pensioners from Monday, April 6. That’s because the key average earnings figure has been confirmed at 4.8%, which is higher than inflation and, of course, higher than the 2.5% minimum floor for increases.
The change means that, for those with a full National Insurance record who are collecting the new state pension – i.e., aged under 76 – the state pension is now worth £1,045 a month on average.
New state pensioners are those who hit state pension age after April 2016. In April 2016, the state pension age was set at 66, which means that new state pensioners today are aged up to 76, though they could turn 77 just after April 6.
The new post-2016 state pensioners will get up to £241.30 per week, or £12,547 for the year, assuming they have a full National Insurance record. The state pension is paid every four weeks, but £12,547 averages out to just over £1,045 per calendar month.
Those with incomplete records will see lower total take-home for their pension payments, depending on how far off the full record they are, which the DWP calculates on a case-by-case basis when you first hit state pension age. All state pensioners should by now have received a personal letter detailing how much their weekly state pension payments will be for this tax year.
Older state pensioners will see their payments increase from £176.45 to £184.90, while new state pensioners will see theirs rise from the current £230.25 to £241.30 per week, for those with a full National Insurance record.
Crucially, both of these will still be below the £12,570 Personal Allowance threshold for income tax.
However, the Chancellor has also announced that, in future, state pensioners who exceed the £12,570 Personal Tax Allowance will not owe tax on their state pension, provided they have no other income. Details of exactly how this will work are still yet to be detailed, but are expected to be unveiled before April 2027, when the next Triple Lock boost would push new state pensioners above the threshold for tax for the first time.