EXCLUSIVE: State pensioners are in line for up to £192 per week.
The DWP is set to hand out more to state pensioners (Image: Getty)
Older state pensioners are in line for a boost to their state pension worth approximately £374 a year. That’s because forecasts for the Triple Lock – still confirmed to remain in place for 2027 – show that the benefit is currently set to increase by 3.9% in April 2027.
The old state pension was closed off as of April 2016. It means that state pensioners who began to claim the DWP payments before that date were only entitled to the old state pension, while younger state pensioners first claiming after that date were given the ‘new state pension’, which distributes higher weekly payments, but no longer includes some elements like Additional Pension (AP) payments.
The DWP has to increase the amount paid to those who receive the state pension each year due to the ‘Triple Lock’ system, which enshrines in law that everyone who is eligible for the handout from the Department of Work and Pensions must see an increase each year, either level with inflation, wage growth or by 2.5%, whichever is highest.
The triple lock, the metric increasing the payments, has been scrapped by Andy Burnham pending Parliamentary process, but the change will not be made until 2030. That means state pensioners will still get increases to their payments based on the triple lock in 2027 as planned.
Right now, wage growth is higher than inflation. Inflation sits at 2.9%, while wage growth sits at 3.9%, and while these aren’t the final figures, it looks likely that wage growth rather than inflation will be the metric used when the final triple lock is set at the next Budget later this month.
As reported by Helen Morrissey, Head of Retirement Analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown: “According to the ONS, average wage growth stood at 3.9%. We may have just over a month to wait until the relevant inflation figure is published, but it currently stands at 2.9%, so unless there’s a real surge it seems likely that the average wage figure will be used.
“Such an increase would put someone on the full new state pension on course to receive £250.70 a week from next April – up from the current £241.30 per week. Someone on a full basic state pension [the old state pension] would receive £192.10 a week – up from £184.90.
“This will be a welcome boost to pensioner incomes but even a full state pension is only ever going to cover the basics. If you want to live well in retirement, then you will need to take your pension planning into your own hands.”
But if the figures were to remain the same, it would lead to a £488 per year boost for a new state pensioner with a full National Insurance record. If wage growth drops in the following three-month period, the calculation would reduce, but if it increases, the triple lock rises yet higher.
The absolute minimum rise possible for older state pensioners is £240.37 extra per year, as this is how much the current £9,614.80 annual payments must rise if the lowest possible increase, a flat 2.5%, is the metric used to increase state pensions this year.
But for some, the boost may still not be enough to guarantee an ‘adequate retirement’.
Ms Morrissey added: “If you have a gap between what you have and what you need, then taking small actions, like boosting contributions every time you get a pay increase or a promotion could have a big impact over time.
“Your employer might also be willing to increase their contribution if you increase yours – known as the employer match – and this can also make a big difference. This steady drip feed of contributions invested over the long term can transform your retirement.
“If you’re worried that you’ve neglected your pension, then it’s important to say that it’s never too late to make a difference to your retirement.
“Take stock of what you have, and if you have any extra money to contribute, it can still make a huge difference. You can usually access money in a pension from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028).”
Reform UK just unveiled anti-woke plan that would ‘tear up’ DEI policing
Reform promises a ‘massive expansion of stop-and-search powers’ and says ‘DEI will be ripped out of British policing’
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is making a major push on law and order (Image: Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP)
Reform UK has unveiled plans to “tear up” the present “diversity-obsessed policing system” by scrapping the College of Policing and hiring 30,000 new police officers. Nigel Farage’s party would introduce a “total ban” on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies in policing and “axe structures set up solely to advance equality of outcome”. A Reform UK Government would remove DEI-related modules from training materials and “race action plans” would be forbidden.
These pledges come alongside promises for stronger policing in areas plagued by antisocial behaviour with “guaranteed foot patrols”. Reform also wants to overhaul the anti-terror Prevent programme to “focus on Islamist terrorism and mandate home searches in cases of repeat referrals”. Under its plan: “Where an individual is referred by three separate corroborating authorities, they will automatically and without exception be subject to a thorough physical search of their homes.”
The measures are part of Reform’s SAFE plan, focussing on “Safety, Antisocial behaviour, Functioning institutions and Equal enforcement”. Colin Sutton, a former detective chief inspector who is Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “We’re prioritising the safety of Brits with a massive expansion of stop-and-search powers and 30,000 more officers on the street. We’ll come down hard on antisocial disorder, banning balaclavas and cracking down on nuisances like illegal e-bikes. We’re intent on having functioning institutions, ending early release for serious criminals and ensuring that our brave police officers are protected from woke outfits like the College of Policing. We will doggedly pursue equal enforcement; DEI will be ripped out of British policing.”
Mr Sutton claimed the proposals were “practical and common sense answers” which drew on the expertise of people who have a “track record of success in bringing even the most hardened criminals to justice”. Earlier this year the Policy Exchange think tank estimated that police and crime commissioners and forces have spent £631million on DEI initatives since 2020. Reform wants a “saturation of stop-and-search in crime hotspots” alongside the “restoration of short sentences”, fast-track courts for repeat offenders and 12,000 new prison places.
Nigel Farage on walkabout in Chelmsford (Image: Will Colebourne/the Press Association)
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp responded, saying: “The Conservatives have a fully funded and credible plan to hire 10,000 more police and build 50,000 more prison places. We will abolish non crime hate incidents so the police catch criminals, not harass people for what they put on social media. We will hotspot patrol high crime areas, triple stop and search and use live facial recognition to catch criminals. We will make sure prolific and dangerous offenders end up where they belong – in prison.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are delivering the biggest reforms to policing in over 200 years, including bringing the College of Policing into the National Police Service to ensure consistent standards across the board. The National Police Service will have a clear mandate and powers to get things done, focus on protecting their communities and make the public safer. We have already committed to delivering 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers into communities blighted by antisocial behaviour by 2029. In the first year of this pledge, more than 3,800 extra personnel are in these roles across England and Wales.”
Colin Sutton as a detective chief inspector in 2008 (Image: Getty Images)
COMMENT by Norfolk Police and Crime Commission Colin Sutton
We all know what’s going on. You pay for your train ticket, walk through the barrier, and then someone forces their way through behind you. Nobody stops them. You look around, half-expecting a member of staff to do something, but the offender has already disappeared down the escalator. Gone.
In moments like these, we might not be frightened, but we’re all annoyed. Irritated. Angry. And the question going through all of our minds is perfectly reasonable: why am I being mugged off for following the rules?
It’s the same for the shopkeeper who reports a thief for the third time. He doesn’t need a lecture about the “root causes” of criminality. He wants to know the thief won’t come back. He wants the thief caught and punished. We all do. Except apparently the Conservative party, who told the police not to bother investigating thefts below £200.
Calling this sort of thing “low-level crime” is convenient for politicians. But I’m not a politician. I’m a crimefighter. A manhunter. I’m the former Detective Chief Inspector for the Metropolitan Police who led the investigation into Milly Dowler’s murder. I locked up serial killer Levi Bellfield, and serial rapist Delroy Grant.
But, some of the cases I am most proud of are those that people don’t know about. The thefts, the muggings, the drug dealing. The so-called petty crime, that gnaws away at society and neighbourhoods.
Every crime matters. Every indignity matters. And as Reform UK’s Policing and Crime Advisor, it is my number one priority to bring not just everyday safety back to British streets, but to ensure we fix our broken institutions, and end two-tier policing.
No more having to watch your back. No more getting mugged off.
Our S.A.F.E. plan, which we’re launching today, commits us to tackling all crime, big or small. Local and national.
We’re prioritising your Safety with a massive expansion of stop-and-search powers and 30,000 more officers on the street. We’ll come down hard on Anti-social disorder, banning balaclavas and on nuisances like illegal e-bikes. We’re intent on having Functioning institutions, ending early release for serious criminals and ensuring that our brave police officers are protected from woke outfits like the College of Policing. We will doggedly pursue Equal enforcement; DEI will be ripped out of British policing.
Protecting people must come first. Serious violence, sexual offences, and criminals who prey on vulnerable victims require painstaking investigation and properly-equipped specialist police.
It is a scandal that only one in ten sexual offences results in a conviction. And what happens in those handful of cases which result in a conviction? Too often plastic sentences. Take the pedophilic men who view and send child pornography. Of those convicted on this basis, fewer than 1 in 5 will see the inside of a prison cell.
At the same time, British neighbourhoods and high streets up and down our country have been left to criminal gangs because in this day and age, it’s deemed easier or simpler just to let it all fester. There seems to be no interest in tackling the persistent harassment, especially of women, in our communities. Things like vandalism and threatening behaviour go totally unassailed but they create misery for people every single day. It’s not on. It’s not the country we want to live in.
The distinction between serious crime and everyday disorder matters operationally. But one can’t be abandoned in pursuit of the other.
Making the machinery of all of this work against the criminals is not glamorous. But it’s critical and often ignored.
People need to feel like they know what’s being investigated, why, and what the process is going to look like. The idea that someone comes and takes a statement and then you never hear from them again is just insulting for everyone. And it’s a waste of time.
Where there’s no realistic prospect of identifying an offender, an honest explanation is better than a reference number presented as though it were a result in and of itself. It is unacceptable that over two million crimes go unsolved each year. Two million victims without answers. Two million criminals who escaped justice.
Equal enforcement is what holds the whole thing together. It’s part of the social contract of our nation. Over the last five years, as law and order has collapsed, the police have found time to arrest over 60,000 for speech offences. This is a stain in itself, but also indicative of the warped priorities of British policing.
Punishments for real crimes matter. But if you’re going to get tough in rhetoric, you’ve got to match that in prison capacity and broader infrastructure. We’ve all watched local police stations close at the same time successive governments have tried to pretend they’re “getting tough.” People can see through such empty claims. And critically, so can criminals.
Reform UK has a plan. The S.A.F.E. plan. The practical and common sense answers, led by people who have a track record of success in bringing even the most hardened criminals to justice.
The people following the rules have kept their side of the bargain. It is time for the government to keep theirs. And that starts on day one of a Reform UK administration.