Older ‘Friday’ state pensioners given £440 extra cash from May | Personal Finance | Finance

Older state pensioners are being handed a financial boost worth up to £439.40 extra per year, but some who are paid on Fridays have had to wait until May. The state pension is guaranteed to increase every year based on one of three metrics – inflation, wage growth or a flat 2.5%, and this is protected by law for both the new post-2016 state pension and the older, basic state pension.

The DWP confirmed that the Triple Lock will result in an almost £440 annual increase for older state pensioners from Monday, April 6. That’s because the key average earnings figure has been confirmed at 4.8%, which is higher than inflation and, of course, higher than the 2.5% minimum floor for increases.

Older state pensioners are those who hit state pension eligibility before April 2016, and as such are entitled to the older, basic state pension, now paying out £184.90 per week maximum for a pensioner with full National Insurance records (and they can also get some other additional payments).

The £184.90 is an increase of £8.45 per week, or £36.61 per month on average.

However, some older state pensioners did not get paid the extra money in April and had to wait until May. This is because the state pension is paid out in lump sums every four weeks, and the new tax year began on April 6, not April 1.

A state pensioner who was paid their pension on Friday, April 3, will not have been given the extra money, and will have been made to wait until Monday, May 1.

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.

It means that they wouldn’t have benefited from the extra £36.61 in April and had to wait until May.

Those with incomplete records will see lower total take-home for their pension payments, depending on how far off the full record they are, which the DWP calculates on a case-by-case basis when you first hit state pension age. All state pensioners should by now have received a personal letter detailing how much their weekly state pension payments will be for this tax year.

There is also another DWP rule which will allow older state pensioners to boost their weekly payments, depending on their income and savings.

Pension Credit is a benefit that older and new state pensioners can use to boost their income. For example, an older state pensioner who only qualifies for the basic state pension will get £184.90 per week. But Pension Credit tops up this amount up to £238 per week, which is only a few pounds less than the new state pension anyway (£241.30). However, your other income, such as work earnings, property income, savings interest or a private pension, is counted first, and you won’t be able to get the full amount if you have exceeded income limits.

The Chancellor has also announced that, in future, state pensioners who exceed the £12,570 Personal Tax Allowance will not owe tax on their state pension, provided they have no other income. Details of exactly how this will work are still yet to be revealed, though HM Treasury has confirmed that older pensioners with AP (additional pension) payments will still have to pay tax on their second pension schemes as they do now.