DWP State Pension alert issued over £900 change coming within weeks

DWP State Pension alert issued over £900 change coming within weeks

A Department for Work and Pensions State Pension alert has been issued – with claimants set for a “substantial” 8.5 per cent increase in April 2024 under the triple lock mechanism.

The new state pension is set to rise just over £900 per year to over £11,500. Under the triple lock, the basic DWP state pension received in retirement rises each year in line with whichever is the highest out of three factors: wage growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent.

AJ Bell head of retirement policy, Tom Selby, said the hike comes “hot on the heels of the bumper 10.1 per cent state pension increase applied in April this year, in line with inflation in the prior September”. “Retirees are set to receive their second blockbuster state pension increase in a row as a result of the government’s ‘triple-lock’ policy,” he continued.

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“For those in receipt of the state pension, the protection provided by the triple-lock is extremely valuable.” Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey, said “it will continue to be a headache for government who need to battle the ever spiralling cost of the state pension bill”.

LCP partner, Steve Webb, stated: “With a General Election in the offing it seems quite inconceivable that the government would choose to break the triple lock promise for a second time in three years. Such a decision would be like aiming a laser-guided missile at the core of Conservative support and could fatally undermine the party’s electoral prospects.”

During his Autumn Statement speech, the Chancellor declared: “We honour our commitment to the triple lock in full. From April 2024, we will increase the full new State Pension by 8.5 per cent to £221.20 a week, worth up to £900 more a year. That is one of the largest ever cash increases to the State Pension showing this Government will always back our pensioners.”