Older state pensioners handed bumper £1844.32 Friday AP payments in May | Personal Finance | Finance
Some fortunate older state pensioners will have a bumper May with two lots of ‘Additional Pension’ (AP) payments from the DWP on top of their basic state pension amounts.
Those who retired before April 2016 are given less per week than new state pensioners in their basic weekly payments, but they are eligible for a range of Additional Pension payments that new post-2016 state pensioners are not.
Additional Pension is the umbrella term for a range of extra pension schemes which older state pensioners were able to make use of before the basic state pension was phased out and replaced in 2016 with the new state pension. AP includes schemes like State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) and Second State Pension.
Though it can no longer be claimed by state pensioners retiring now, those who took part in the schemes, usually through work, can still get AP payments from the DWP every week.
The maximum AP payment is capped at £230.54 per week from April – on top of the normal basic pension amount. Though state pension figures are often reported as weekly figures, the DWP state pension payments are actually paid every four weeks.
That means that for every four-week period, older state pensioners can get up to get up to £922.16 from their state pension AP payments.
Exactly when you’re paid depends on the last two digits of your National Insurance number.
According to the DWP, those whose NI number ends in digits between 80 and 99 are normally paid on Fridays. And because May has five weeks, including five Fridays, state pensioners with these National Insurance numbers will get paid their state pension AP payments twice in May 2026 – for a total maximum of £1,844.32 in May, on top of their basic pension payments.
Consumer magazine Which? explains: “Before 2002, you could only contribute to the additional state pension (then known as the state earnings-related pension scheme, or Serps) if you were employed.
“However, under the state second pension scheme, which ran from 2002 to 2016, you could contribute through your National Insurance contributions if you were:
- an employee earning at least £113 a week
- caring for one or more children under 12 and claiming child benefit
- claiming carer’s credit
- claiming certain disability-related benefits.”
It adds: “There is no fixed amount for the additional state pension.
“The amount of additional state pension you’ll get depends on how many years you paid National Insurance for, how much you earned and whether you contracted out of the scheme.
“The maximum additional state pension you can get in 2026-27 is £230.54 a week (not including state pension top-up).”
Unfortunately, these AP payments are not exempt from tax and will not be given a special exepmtion in future, as revealed exclusively by the Express.
