The state pension and a raft of benefits will rise from Monday (, with people receiving the state pension getting an 8.5 per cent increase worth an extra £900 a year to full-rate claimants. Universal credit claimants will receive a 6.7 per cent increase, a rise which extends to other benefits including the personal independence payment, disability living allowance and employment and support allowance.
The Government billed the rise in the state pension as one of a number of measures aimed at backing Britain’s pensioners. The state pension is paid every four weeks to people who have reached the qualifying age and have paid enough national insurance contributions.
The new full, flat-rate state pension (for those who reached state pension age after April 2016) rises from £203.85 to £221.20 a week – or £11,500 a year up from £10,600. The old basic state pension paid to those who reached state pension age before April 2016 rises from £156.20 a week to £169.50 a week – equivalent to a more than £600 annual increase to £8,814.
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Universal credit, claimed by about 6 million people in the UK, is given to workers on low incomes as well as those who are out of work. For single people, the basic universal credit payments rise to £311.68 a month (up from £292.11) for the under-25s. For those 25 or over, it is now worth £393.45 a month (up from £368.74). Couples who are both under 25 now receive £489.23 a month – up from £458.51, while older joint claimants where one or both are 25 or over get £617.60 a month (up from £578.82)
Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Thanks to the triple lock and our efforts to drive down inflation, we are putting money back in the pockets of pensioners. This is only possible because we have stuck to our plan and our economy has turned a corner. This will make a meaningful difference to all those who rely on the state pension and ensure we continue to provide a safety net for those who need it most while making work pay wherever possible.”
Liberal Democrats claim extra pension support will be largely wiped out
Ministers also pointed to the 2p cut to national insurance announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt at the Budget among measures to help households struggling with living costs. The Liberal Democrats claimed the extra pension support would be largely wiped out, as more pensioners are dragged into paying income tax as a result of threshold freezes.
Work and pensions spokeswoman Wendy Chamberlain said: “Jeremy Hunt has taken a bolt cutter to the triple lock. This Conservative Government is picking pensioners’ pockets to try and fill the black hole caused by their disastrous economic policy.
“These are people who have played by the rules their whole lives, paid their taxes and contributed so much to our society. They expect that in their older years the government would look after them, not place even more financial hardship upon them during a cost-of-living crisis.”
Labour suggested it is now the “party for pensioners”, who it claimed had paid “a heavy price for 14 years of devastating Tory economic failure”. Alison McGovern, a shadow work and pensions minister, added: “The Tories crashed the economy and unleashed a cost-of-living crisis, pushing pensioners into poverty, or having to rely on their savings just to get by. Now we have a fresh threat to family finances and pensioners from the Tories’ £46 billion unfunded cut to national insurance which risks re-running the disastrous Liz Truss experiment.”
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