UK State Pension Rates 2026/27

State Pension weekly, 4-weekly and annual rates

These are the maximum rates from April 2026. Which scheme applies to you depends on when you reached (or will reach) State Pension age, not on how much National Insurance you paid.

Figures verified against GOV.UK and DWP's own published rate tables (see Sources below). The annual figures are the weekly rate x 52, rounded to the nearest pound; the State Pension is normally paid every 4 weeks, not annually.

State Pension increase April 2027

The government has confirmed that the State Pension will rise by 3.9% in April 2027. The triple lock pays the highest of three measures:

The 3.9% increase is confirmed (written statement HCWS427, 28 October 2026), but these weekly figures are this page's arithmetic, not DWP's rates. DWP publishes the exact weekly rates in its benefit and pension rates list for 2027/28, and they may differ by a few pence. Nothing is in force until Parliament approves the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order.

Which State Pension applies to you

You cannot choose between the two schemes — it is fixed by your date of birth and sex. If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 you may also have Additional State Pension (SERPS or State Second Pension) on top of the basic amount. GOV.UK says it has no fixed amount and is paid with your basic State Pension.

Tax on the State Pension and the Pension Tax Allowance from April 2027

The State Pension is taxable but DWP pays it without taking tax off. If it is your only income and goes over your Personal Allowance, HMRC sends you a Simple Assessment tax bill; if you also have a job or a private pension, HMRC usually collects the tax through that PAYE tax code.

Budget 2025 announced a Pension Tax Allowance and Budget 2026 set out the detail. It applies from 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2030: a tax reduction for people over State Pension age, so that pensioners whose total income is up to the value of the full new State Pension do not have to pay small amounts of income tax. For 2027-28, HMRC's rates table gives the full allowance below £13,037 of total income, reducing to nothing at £13,319. You will not need to contact HMRC or make a claim. It is announced, not yet law: Finance Bill 2026-27 will legislate it, and the figures for later years follow the full new State Pension.

The triple lock

Both the new and basic State Pension rise every April by whichever is highest of three measures:

• Average earnings growth — the ONS's whole-economy figure for May-July of the previous year
• Price inflation — the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) figure for the previous September
• 2.5% — a guaranteed minimum increase, whatever earnings and prices do

The Autumn Budget 2025 restated the government's commitment to keep it for the rest of this Parliament. For the 2026/27 up-rating, CPI was 3.8% and earnings growth was 4.8% — earnings growth was highest, so both pensions rose by 4.8%.

Budget 2026 announced that from April 2030 the State Pension will instead rise each year by the highest of 2.5%, inflation, or the amount needed to keep its value relative to earnings as reached in April 2029. That change is announced, not yet law. Until then each April increase follows the three measures above.

April uprating history

The triple lock's three components for each April increase, and which one was actually used. In 2025/26 to 2026/27, earnings growth (4.8%) was highest; the exception is 2022, when earnings growth (8.6%, distorted by pandemic-era pay data) was excluded from the calculation by the government, so CPI (3.1%) was used instead.

CPI, earnings growth and minimum figures are the Triple Lock's own published components for each year's April up-rating (Government Actuary's Department, Report on the 2026 Up-rating Order, Table 3.3). Weekly rates are from DWP's yearly "Benefit and pension rates" publications. See Sources below.

Deferring your State Pension increases the amount

You do not have to claim your State Pension as soon as you reach State Pension age. Deferring — delaying your claim — increases your eventual weekly payments, but the rate differs by scheme.

You cannot build up deferred State Pension while you or your partner get certain benefits, and the extra amount you build up usually increases each year with CPI rather than the triple lock. Check the official rules — and your own health, tax and cash-flow position — before deciding to defer.

Qualifying years — what actually decides your amount

The rates above are the maximum you can get. What you actually receive depends on your National Insurance record.

New State Pension

• You need at least 10 qualifying years to get any new State Pension.
• If your National Insurance record started on or after 6 April 2016, you need 35 qualifying years for the full amount, and fewer years give a proportional amount.
• If you have any qualifying year before 6 April 2016, the 35-year rule does not apply. Your amount starts from a starting amount: the higher of what you would have got under the old rules and a new-rules figure that is reduced if you were contracted out. Years after 6 April 2016 add to it up to the full rate, and a starting amount already above the full rate is kept.
• A qualifying year counts if you worked and paid National Insurance, received National Insurance credits, or paid voluntary contributions. Years spent contracted out still count as qualifying years.

Basic State Pension

For the basic State Pension the qualifying-year requirement depends on your date of birth and sex:

• Men born between 1945 and 1951 usually need 30 qualifying years; men born before 1945 usually need 44.
• Women born between 1950 and 1953 usually need 30 qualifying years; women born before 1950 usually need 39.
• Fewer qualifying years give a proportional basic State Pension, subject to a minimum threshold.

Frequently asked questions