The annual increase to the UK state pension has been applied from 6 April 2019. The rates have been increased as follows:
– ‘Old’ UK state pension: increases from £125.95pw to £129.20pw
– ‘New’ UK state pension: increases from £164.35pw to £168.60pw
Effectively this is an increase of 2.6% which compares favourably to the 1.9% rate of inflation recorded at the end of March 2019.
The ‘old’ and ‘new’ elements to the UK state pension refer to changes made from 5th April 2016 and if your working life straddled that date then your UK state pension benefit will likely be a hybrid of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ state pensions. Under the ‘old’ UK state pension (pre 5 April 2016) you required 30 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to be eligible for the full amount of £129.20pw. Under the ‘new’ state pension an individual requires 35 qualifying years on their National Insurance records to be eligible for the full amount of £168.60pw.
Annual increases to the UK state pension are based on the “triple lock” provisions introduced by the Cameron government in 2010. These provisions state that the UK state pension increases by the higher of:
- growth in average earnings
- rate of inflation
- 2½%
Contact us at https://www.uspfinancial.ie to find out more.