The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be adjusting the payment dates for eight benefits, including Universal Credit, in April to accommodate the Easter bank holidays. With Good Friday on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6, payments originally scheduled for these dates will be processed earlier.
Claimants due to receive payments on these bank holidays will instead be paid on the preceding working day, Thursday, April 2. This ensures that individuals continue to receive their funds without delay during the holiday period.
The same adjustment applies to the basic state pension, which is paid directly into bank accounts on a four-week cycle. Payment days for the state pension correspond to the last two digits of a claimant’s National Insurance (NI) number: those ending in 00 to 19 receive payments on Monday; 20 to 39 on Tuesday; 40 to 59 on Wednesday; 60 to 79 on Thursday; and 80 to 99 on Friday.
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These bank holiday payment changes will be consistently applied both to benefits and state pension payments for April.
Interestingly, the timing of Easter itself is determined astronomically. The date falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Dr Marek Kukula from the Royal Observatory Greenwich highlights that “Astronomy is absolutely at the heart of setting the date for Easter. It depends on two astronomical things—the spring equinox and the full moon.”