The new State Pension is now worth up to £241.30 per week (Image: Getty)
New state pensioners aged 77 and under across the UK are set to receive up to £965.20 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in August following a triple lock change earlier this year. Men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953, receive the basic State Pension, but anyone born after these dates gets the new State Pension instead.
New state pensioners are those who reached State Pension age from April 6, 2016, when the qualifying age was set at 63 to 65. This later continued to rise to age 66, meaning new state pensioners will now all be aged under 77. While current new State Pension claimants will have already seen payments go up from April 6 thanks to a 4.8% uplift in line with the triple lock, those who are just reaching State Pension age in August will begin claiming their State Pension on these higher 2026/27 rates from this month.
The new £241.30 weekly rate for the new State Pension took effect on April 6, and pensioners will continue to reap the benefits of these higher payments in August – and every month that follows until next April.
Men born before April 6, 1951, and women born before April 6, 1953, receive the basic State Pension, but anyone born after these dates gets the new State Pension instead.
New state pensioners are those who reached retirement age from April 2016, when they would have been aged 66, so they will have been aged 76 or under as of April 2026.
As of April 6, the full new State Pension is now worth £241.30 per week, up from £230.25 previously, giving pensioners a maximum weekly payment increase of up to £11.05.
As the State Pension is paid every four weeks, it means that those who qualify for the full amount can expect payments of £965.20 from the DWP in each four-week period.
Over a full year, the 4.8% increase amounts to £12,547.60 in pension payments, up from £11,973, giving pensioners eligible for the full rate an extra £574.60 annually.
Of course, the figures are based on the maximum possible amount for those with a full qualifying National Insurance record, so those without enough qualifying years will receive less.
So if you don’t have a full National Insurance record then your new State Pension will be less than £965.20 every four weeks in the 2026/27 tax year.
Confirming the new rates at the end of last year, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden said: “I am pleased to announce that the basic and new State Pensions will be increased by 4.8%, in line with the increase in average weekly earnings in the year to May-July 2025.
“This delivers on our commitment to the Triple Lock, increasing these rates in line with the highest of growth in prices, growth in earnings or 2.5%.
“From April, the full annual rate of the new State Pension will increase by around £575. The full annual rate of the basic State Pension will increase by around £440.”
Pensioners can determine when State Pension payments payments will land in their bank accoun in August by checking their National Insurance number, as the last two digits correspond to the day of the week that payments are normally issued, as follows:
20 to 39 – paid on Tuesday
40 to 59 – paid on Wednesday
60 to 79 – paid on Thursday
80 to 99 – paid on Friday
Pensioners should not that some payments may be disrupted this month due to the late summer bank holiday on August 31, with those who are expecting a payment on this date to instead be paid by the DWP three days earlier than normal on Friday, August 28.
The DWP said: “You’ll be asked when you want to start getting your State Pension when you claim. Your first payment will be no later than 5 weeks after the date you choose. You’ll get a full payment every 4 weeks after that.
“You might get part of a payment before your first full payment. The letter confirming your State Pension payment will tell you what to expect.
“The day your pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number. You might be paid earlier if your normal payment day is a bank holiday.”