Starting next week, the state pension will rise from £230.25 per week to £241.30, an increase of £11.05 thanks to the government’s Triple Lock guarantee. Over the course of a year, this translates to an extra £575 in income for eligible pensioners.
This increase affects the new state pension, which applies to women born after 1953 and men born after 1951 who reached state pension age from 2016 onward. Consequently, while all men born after 1951 will see this boost, women born between 1951 and 1953 will remain on the older, lower pension rates.
For retirees on the basic state pension—those born before these cutoff years—the weekly rate will rise from £176.45 to £184.90. Additionally, Category B and Categories C or D pensions will increase from £105.70 to £110.75. Pensioners receiving Additional Pension benefits (including own and inherited amounts) will see a rise from £222.10 to £230.54.
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Although this year’s percentage increase is smaller than last year’s, the cash boost remains significant, especially for those relying fully on the New State Pension.
The Triple Lock policy ensures the state pension rises each April by the highest of these three: the previous September’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation measure, average wage growth, or a minimum of 2.5%. For the 2026-27 financial year, the increase will be based on UK wage growth between May and July 2025, recorded at 4.8%. Last year’s increase was determined by a 4.1% wage growth.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government temporarily suspended the earnings element of the Triple Lock due to an unusually high wage growth spike of 8.3%, largely caused by furlough schemes and redundancies. Instead, pensions were increased solely in line with inflation at 3.1% during that period.
Helen Morrissey of broker Hargreaves Lansdown commented that while the state pension has been effective in boosting pensioner income, a 2017 government review highlighted concerns about future intergenerational fairness.