The 25p additional payment is included in the DWP’s benefits list for April 2026.
The 25p payment for pensioners over 80 has never been adjusted for inflation (Image: Getty)
State pensioners over the age of 80 who retired before 2016 are set to receive an extra 25p in their State Pension from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2026.
The little-known payment was first introduced in 1971 in recognition of “the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others” and is paid to pensioners aged 80 and over who receive the basic State Pension as a top-up. Similar to the controversial £10 Christmas Bonus, the 25p payment has never been adjusted for inflation since it was introduced more than 50 years ago. At the time, pensions were £6 per week, so 25p represented a 4% boost. But despite never being uprated, some over 80s can still get an additional 25p added to their pensions.
The DWP has included the 25p ‘addition at age 80’ payout for pensioners on the old basic State Pension in its benefits list for April 2026 onwards, released after Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the autumn Budget last week, but it is staying frozen at its current rate.
Everyone eligible for the basic State Pension has already reached State Pension age and it is given to men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953. Anyone born after these dates gets the new State Pension instead.
The new State Pension, which is available to those who reach State Pension age after 2016, does not include the 25p age addition, but people who already retired before the pension changeover are still eligible to receive their quarter of a pound.
A Research Briefing issued by Parliament in 2013 explains: “Pensioners aged 80 and over receive an addition of 25 pence to their state pension. The age addition was introduced in 1971, in recognition of “the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others”.
“It has never been uprated, with successive Governments either arguing that greater priority should be given to protecting the level of the basic benefits, or choosing to target additional resources at older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.”
The report added: The addition has never been increased. It was specifically excluded from the statutory index linking provisions of the Social Security Act 1975 (now replaced by section 150 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992). The Labour Government did float the idea of raising the age addition in their discussion document, ‘A Happier Old Age’ in 1978.
“In May 2012 there were some 3.2 million pensioners aged 80 and over. This would put the annual cost of the 25 pence age addition at some £41 million. If the 25 pence age addition had been increased by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) since its introduction in 1971, it would now be around £3.20 per week. The annual additional cost of increasing it to that amount would be around £500 million.
“Governments of both parties have generally resisted suggestions that the age addition should be increased, either arguing that greater priority should be given to maintaining or increasing the basic rate of benefit, or choosing to target additional resources on older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.”
In 2024, the DWP confirmed to The Express why the 25p age addition payout would not be increasing from April, for what was the 54th year in a row. A spokesman said: “The 25p per week Age Addition, which was introduced in 1971, is paid with the basic State Pension when someone reaches the age of 80.
“Successive Governments have decided not to increase the Age Addition payment since its introduction, while both the basic and new State Pension amounts have increased. Any increase would be paid as State Pension and classed as taxable income. That could also have an impact on the amount of State support people receive through other benefits.
“The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 it will continue under the existing rules.”
