Older state pensioners born in these years paid extra 25p in pension | Personal Finance | Finance

It’s a little known payment top-up that’s only paid to state pensioners aged over 80 who retired before 2016 – but a 25 pence top up for older pensioners is still being paid out by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2025.

The DWP has included the 25p ‘addition at age 80’ payout for pensioners on the old basic State Pension in its benefits list for April 2025 onwards. Similar to 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. Even today, some over 80s can get a whopping 25p added to their pensions.

In a Research Briefing issued by Parliament in 2013, it explained: “Pensioners aged 80 and over receive an addition of 25 pence to their state pension. The age addition was introduced in 1971, in recognition of “the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others”.

“It has never been uprated, with successive Governments either arguing that greater priority should be given to protecting the level of the basic benefits, or choosing to target additional resources at older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.”

The full new state pension, available for those who hit state pension age after 2016, does not include the 25p age addition, but people who already retired before the pension changeover are still eligible to receive their quarter of a pound.

The report added: “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.”