Some lucky younger state pensioners will have a bumper July with two DWP state pension payments totalling up to £1,479.20 – if they normally receive their pension payments on Wednesdays.
Those who retired after April 2016 are able to get a maximum of £241.30 per week in their basic state pension payment, assuming a full National Insurance record. In April 2016, those qualifying for a state pension would have been aged 66, so the oldest that a new, post-2016 state pensioner could be now is 77, depending where their birthday falls.
But despite the overall basic payments figure being lower, older state pensioners and new state pensioners alike can get two state pension payments in July due to the way the month falls.
Though state pension figures are often reported as weekly figures, the DWP state pension payments are actually paid for every four weeks.
That means that for every four weeks, new state pensioners will get up to £965.20 from their basic rate state pension payments, as long as they have maximised their National Insurance record.
Exactly when you’re paid depends on the last two digits on the end of your National Insurance number.
According to the DWP, those whose NI number ends in digits between 40 to 59 are normally paid on Wednesdays. And because July has five Wednesdays, younger state pensioners with these National Insurance numbers will get paid their state pension twice in July 2026 – for a total maximum of £1,930.40 in July from the basic rate payments, assuming a full National Insurance record.
Those with incomplete records will see lower total take-home for their pension payments, depending on how far off the full record they are, which the DWP calculates on a case-by-case basis when you first hit state pension age.
The annual sum of basic rate state pension payments for an older state pensioner comes to £12,547. This is still a few pounds lower than the threshold for Income Tax.
The Chancellor has, however, announced that in future, state pensioners who exceed the £12,570 Personal Tax Allowance will not owe tax on their state pension, as long as they have no other income. Details of exactly how this will work are yet to be revealed, although Additional State Pension schemes for older state pensioners will not be exempted from tax, HM Treasury has confirmed to the Express.