State pensioners born in these years get a handy £440 boost confirmed this Wednesday.
Older state pensioners will get a £440 boost (Image: Getty)
Older state pensioners are being handed a financial boost this Wednesday as Rachel Reeves has not announced any changes to the planned uplifts for pensioners who reached pension age before 2016.
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 enshrined in law for both the new post-2016 state pension and the older, basic state pension.
And today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a slate of spending plans for the coming financial year, which crucially has not included any change to Triple Lock plans.
Following months of rampant speculation, the Chancellor has now announced how various taxes are going to increase.
Currently, the Triple Lock is set to produce an approximate £440 increase for older state pensioners from April 2026. 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.
Older state pensioners, who hit state pension age before 2016, will get the 4.8% boost to their basic state pension, but the basic pension is set at a lower weekly amount than the full state pension, so the end result is a lower total increase, at £440 instead of £575.
Older state pensioners will see their payments increase from £176.45 to approximately £184.90, while new state pensioners will see theirs rise from the current £230.25 to approximately £241.30 per week.
Crucially, both of these will still be below the £12,570 Personal Allowance threshold for income tax.
There has been no change to the tax rules for state pensioners, who have always been liable to pay tax even after collecting their state pension, but those who do not have any other income or savings in 2026 will not pay tax on their state pension income alone.
But people living abroad will no longer have access to the class two voluntary national insurance contributions system, in a crackdown on state pensions paid to overseas claimants.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the Commons: “Taxpayers’ money should not be spent on pensions for people abroad who only lived here for a couple of years and may never have paid a penny in tax.
“The Conservatives allowed thousands of people living abroad buy their way into the state pension for as little as £3.50 a week, debasing the purpose of our pension system.
“And so I will abolish access to class two voluntary national insurance contributions for people living abroad, increasing the time that someone has to live or work in Britain to 10 years and increasing the contributions they must pay.”
