State pensioners born after July 6, 1960, hit with age rise for £965 payments

State pensioners born after July 6, 1960, will be hit with an age rise next month that will affect when they will get payments of up to £965.20 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Following a recent law change in April, the State Pension age in the UK is currently in the process of rising from age 66 to 67. But as this age increase is being phased in gradually over a two year period, it will delay when people who have a 66th birthday that falls within this time frame can start claiming their State Pension. For those born after July 6, 1960, you won’t become eligible to receive State Pension payments immediately on your 66th birthday and will instead have to wait until you are 66 plus a specified number of months.

The length of the wait before you become eligible depends on when your birthday falls, with some being closer to age 67 before they can get their first State Pension payment.

Thanks to a 4.8% uplift to the State Pension in April in line with the triple lock, the full new State Pension is now worth £241.30 per week, up from £230.25 previously.

As it is paid by the DWP every four weeks, it means those with a full National Insurance record can now get up to £965.20 in each four-week payment period. But the current age rise means a longer wait for these payments to start being issued if you were born after July 6, 1960.

The DWP has set out the timetable for the gradual increase of the State Pension age to 67, with the process getting under way from April 6.

The timetable delays the point at which the State Pension can be claimed in one month increments, so pensioners with a 66th birthday next month that falls between July 6 and August 5 will have to wait an extra four months after their birthday until they can start getting payments of up to £965.20.

For example, if you were born on July 6, 1960, then you will become eligible to claim your State Pension on November 6, 2026, when you are exactly 66 years and four months old.

And those due to turn 66 later on in the year face a longer wait still, with the delay rising in one-month increments until the age rise to 67 is complete.

The DWP has confirmed the following timetable for the increase in State Pension age from 66 to 67, which shows when people with birthdays between April 6, 1960, and March 5, 1961 can claim their State Pension:

• April 6,1960 – May 5, 1960: 66 years and 1 month
• May 6, 1960 – June 5, 1960: 66 years and 2 months
• June 6, 1960 – July 5, 1960: 66 years and 3 months
• July 6, 1960 – August 5, 1960: 66 years and 4 months
• August 6, 1960 – September 5, 1960: 66 years and 5 months
• September 6, 1960 – October 5, 1960: 66 years and 6 months
• October 6, 1960 – November 5, 1960: 66 years and 7 months
• November 6, 1960 – December 5, 1960: 66 years and 8 months
• December 6, 1960 – January 5, 1961: 66 years and 9 months
• January 6, 1961 – February 5, 1961: 66 years and 10 months
• February 6, 1961 – March 5, 1961: 66 years and 11 months
• March 6, 1961 – April 5, 1977: 67 years

The DWP said: “The Pensions Act 2014 brought the increase in the State Pension age from 66 to 67 forward by eight years. The State Pension age for men and women will now increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

“The Government also changed the way in which the increase in State Pension age is phased so that rather than reaching State Pension age on a specific date, people born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961 will reach their State Pension age at 66 years and the specified number of months.

” For people born after 5 April 1969 but before 6 April 1977, under the Pensions Act 2007, State Pension age was already 67.”