State pension warning over full list of people not eligible for increase in April 2026 | Personal Finance | Finance
Millions of pensioners across the UK will see their State Pension rise next April, but nearly half a million people will miss out on the increase. The payment changes take effect from April 6, 2026, under the Triple Lock guarantee. The Triple Lock ensures the State Pension goes up each year by whichever is highest out of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
For the 2026/27 financial year, the increase will be based on earnings growth of 4.8%, while additional elements such as deferred rates will rise by 3.8%. This means people on the full New State Pension will receive £241.30 per week, while those on the maximum Basic State Pension will receive £184.90 per week. Someone on the full New State Pension currently gets £230.25 a week, and the new amount represents a yearly income of £12,547. The full Basic State Pension will rise from £176.45 to £184.90 a week, equal to £9,614 a year.
However, not everyone over State Pension age will receive the increase. An estimated 453,000 pensioners will miss out because they live in a country that does not have a reciprocal agreement with the UK Government, the Daily Record reports.
This means their State Pension is frozen at the rate it was first paid, even though they made the required National Insurance contributions.
Campaigners have been warning about this issue for years. The ‘End Frozen Pensions’ group has pushed for change through petitions, parliamentary visits and discussions with ministers.
One of those visits included 100-year-old World War 2 veteran Anne Puckridge, who travelled to Westminster to highlight how frozen pensions affect older people abroad.
The campaigners had also hoped the appointment of former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as Canada’s prime minister last year would help open talks, as the policy affects more than 100,000 British expats living in Canada.
The freeze affects mainly those who retire to Commonwealth nations such as Canada and Australia.
Pensioners living in the USA or EU continue to receive annual upratings in the same way they would if they had stayed in the UK.
Many of those affected receive very low payments. Around 49% of frozen pensioners receive £65 per week or less, and campaigners say some people are surviving on as little as £20 a week. An estimated 86% were not told their pension would be frozen when they moved abroad.
John Duguid, the chair of the End Frozen Pensions Campaign, said: “The Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) found the words, and the money, to help protect pensioners from inflation at home, while offering nothing to the hundreds of thousands of British pensioners overseas whose incomes are being eroded year after year.”
He added: “Once again, we are left out of sight, out of mind and out of pocket. And the fact that most of the affected countries are members of the Commonwealth adds insult to injury.
“The Government appears content to grow a chasm between its pensioners residing at home and abroad.”
Mr Duguid said the policy is “a gross injustice” and highlighted the Government’s own estimate that fixing the issue would cost £63 million in the first year. He described the figure as “a drop in the ocean of the total pension spend”.
You can find out more about the campaign on the End Frozen Pensions website.
More information about state pensions can be found on GOV.UK.
