DWP update as nearly 500,000 state pensioners get payment boost | Personal Finance | Finance

Half a million pensioners have received a weekly boost to their state pensionfrom April this year. The increase means an additional 25p per week will be paid to those born in 1944 or earlier who receive the state pension. The small amount adds up to £13 a year for recipients.

Pensioners aged 80 and over will receive the boost after the amount has remained unchanged for over five decades, reports GB News. The 25p addition has remained unchanged since it’s introduction in 1971.

Questions have been asked about how much the additional payment has cost the government in administration in order to add the extra money and whether this exceeds the amount paid to pensioners.

Pensions Minister Torsten Bell said that the 25p age addition is “simple to administer” with negligible administration costs as payments are made automatically as part of ongoing state pension entitlements. He said that administrative costs will not exceed the total amount paid.

Despite this, the DWP will incur some expenses when sending out letters to inform claimants about the increase.

In 2024, some 474,239 letters were issued at a cost of £278,030 for printing and postage.

When the 25p addition was first introduced in 1971, the state pension was just £6 a week, making this supplement a significant 4% uplift to recipients’ income.

Today, that same amount represents a far less impactful boost.

A Parliament research briefing from 2013 explained the original rationale behind the policy, noting it was introduced “in recognition of ‘the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others”.

Governments which followed have opted not to increase this amount.

From April this year, the full basic state pension increased from £169.50 to £176.45 per week.

To qualify for the full basic state pension, individuals generally need 30 years of National Insurance contributions.