A State Pension payout given to pensioners aged over 80 who retired before 2016 will not be going up from April.
The State Pension increases at the start of every new tax year on April 6 and the amount it goes up is based on three factors, known as the ‘triple lock’. The new rates are determined by whatever is highest out of the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation (measured for September the year before), average wage growth between May and July of the previous year, or 2.5%. For the 2025/26 tax year, both the basic and new State Pensions will be uprated by 4.1% – in line with the annual increase in the average weekly earnings index for May to July 2024.
The amount extra you’ll get from April is dependent on when you retired, as some pensioners will be on the basic State Pension, while others will be on the new State Pension. But one payment that won’t be rising from April is a little-known 25p additional payment top-up that is only given to those aged 80 and over, who retired before 2016.
The 25p ‘addition at age 80’ payment for pensioners on the old basic State Pension is included in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits list for April 2025 onwards, but it is staying frozen at its current rate.
Much like the controversial £10 Christmas bonus, the 25p payment has never been adjusted for inflation since it was first introduced in 1971. At the time, pensions were £6 per week, so 25p represented a 4% boost.
The 25p per week payment was introduced in recognition of “the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others”, and it is still given to some pensioners over the age of 80 today – at exactly the same rate as it was set at in 1971.
The DWP has now confirmed why it won’t be raising the 25p age addition payout from April, for what will be the 54th year in a row. A spokesman told The Express: “The 25p per week Age Addition, which was introduced in 1971, is paid with the basic State Pension when someone reaches the age of 80.
“Successive Governments have decided not to increase the Age Addition payment since its introduction, while both the basic and new State Pension amounts have increased. Any increase would be paid as State Pension and classed as taxable income. That could also have an impact on the amount of State support people receive through other benefits.
“The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 it will continue under the existing rules.”
The full new State Pension, which is available to those who reached State Pension age after 2016, does not include the 25p age addition, but those who already retired before the pension changeover are still eligible to receive their quarter of a pound.
A Research Briefing issued by Parliament in 2013 explains: “The addition has never been increased. It was specifically excluded from the statutory index linking provisions of the Social Security Act 1975 (now replaced by section 150 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992). The Labour Government did float the idea of raising the age addition in their discussion document, ‘A Happier Old Age’ in 1978.
“In May 2012 there were some 3.2 million pensioners aged 80 and over. This would put the annual cost of the 25 pence age addition at some £41 million. If the 25 pence age addition had been increased by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) since its introduction in 1971, it would now be around £3.20 per week. The annual additional cost of increasing it to that amount would be around £500 million.
“Governments of both parties have generally resisted suggestions that the age addition should be increased, either arguing that greater priority should be given to maintaining or increasing the basic rate of benefit, or choosing to target additional resources on older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.”
