State pensioners born before these years handed £2,991 pension boost | Personal Finance | Finance

State pensioners born before certain years could get themselves a state pension boost worth £2,991 a year.

That’s because of a change to the state pension system eight years ago which means millions of pensioners are being paid less than they need to live on.

But with one simple claim, state pensioners born at a certain time could land themselves another £2,522 plus some extra benefits on top.

The state pension system was changed in 2016. The basic state pension pays £169.50 to those who retired before 2016, so for men born before April 6, 1951 and women born after April 6, 1953.

Those people would have reached retirement age before April 2016 and therefore were put onto the old basic state pension system paying £8,814 a year in total.

The new state pension system pays much more – £221.20 per week, or £11,502 per year.

So anyone born after those above dates will automatically claim the much more lucrative new state pension instead.

While there is no way for older pensioners to transfer themselves from the old basic state pension to the new state pension, anyone on the old state pension system can top up their weekly income to almost the same amount using Pension Credit.

Pension Credit tops up your income to £218 a week, meaning you’d get £11,336 in total, a top up of £2,522 per year, if you’re on the older basic state pension, and otherwise have weekly income lower than that.

Then of course, you’d also get your £300 Winter Fuel Payment again because those claiming Pension Credit will still get the payment under the new system, which takes your total to £2,822.

Then you’d get a free TV Licence as well worth £169.50 for a total boost of £2,991.50 not including any possible council tax discounts or housing benefit you may be entitled to as well depending on your local authority.

To claim, call the Pension Credit hotline on 0800 99 1234.