State pensioners eligible for an increase to their state pension should have received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The increase, which is worth 25p a week, or £13 a year, is given to people on the basic state pension when they turn 80.
This means that anyone born in early 1945 or earlier, as well as those who have turned 80 this year, and are receiving the basic state pension, should receive the extra money. The supplementary payment for those entering their eighties was introduced back in 1971.
In 1971, 54 years ago, the state pension paid out £6 a week, with the 25p rise equal to 4% uplift.
Ministers have not increased the additional payment, in the same way the £10 Christmas bonus that many recipients get during the festive season, which has also remained the same amount 1971.
Labour MP Jonathan Davies asked how expensive the uplift is to administer and whether the cost exceeded the extra sum paid out to those who receive it.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell said the 25p age addition was “simple to administer”, the Liverpool Echo reports. He said: “Payments are made automatically as part of the person’s ongoing state pension entitlement. The administration costs are therefore negligible.”
Mr Bell admitted costs were involved in letting older pensioners know they were getting the increase. He said: “In 2024, 474,239 letters were issued to inform people that they were now entitled to the age addition, costing £278,030 in printing and postage.
“In 2024/2025, the annual cost of the 25p age addition to the state pension for those eligible 80+ is estimated to be £50.8million. Administrative costs therefore do not exceed the total amount paid.”
A research briefing issued by Parliament in 2013 about the extra 25p explained the thinking behind the policy: “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’.
State pensioners received a 4.1% increase to their payments from April in line with the triple lock. This increased the full basic state pension from £169.50 a week to £176.45 a week. To receive the full basic state pension, you generally need 35 years of National Insurance contributions.
The full new state pension now stands at £230.25 a week, up from £221.20 a week since April. You can find out your projected state pension amount using the forecast tool on the Government’s website.
