Older pensioners are set to receive up to £646.88 extra each year after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) increased Additional Pension payments for the 2026/27 tax year.
The uplift came into effect from April 6, with the maximum weekly Additional Pension payment increasing from £222.10 to £230.54.
It applies on top of the standard state pension payment for eligible pensioners who built up entitlements under older pension schemes before the introduction of the new state pension in 2016.
The DWP and the Treasury approved the increase as part of annual state pension adjustments for the current tax year.
For pensioners receiving the maximum Additional Pension entitlement, the weekly increase of £8.44 amounts to an extra £646.88 over 12 months.
Additional Pension is a term covering supplementary state pension schemes available before the current state pension system was introduced.
Although the new state pension replaced the previous arrangements in 2016, pensioners who contributed under the earlier system continue receiving Additional Pension payments alongside their weekly state pension.
Two schemes formed part of the system: the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme, known as SERPS, and the Second State Pension.
Older pensioners handed up to £647 extra as DWP boosts Additional Pension payments
| GETTYSERPS operated until 2002 and was available to employed workers paying National Insurance contributions.
The Second State Pension then ran between 2002 and 2016 and extended eligibility to a broader group, including carers and people claiming certain disability benefits.
People reaching state pension age under the current system cannot build up Additional Pension entitlement, although some may still inherit payments from a spouse or civil partner.
Eligibility for Additional Pension generally applies to men born before April 6, 1951 and women born before April 6, 1953.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Anyone born after those dates receives the new state pension instead and does not qualify for Additional Pension payments in their own right
| GETTYUnlike the standard state pension, there is no fixed Additional Pension amount.
Payments depend on factors including the number of years National Insurance contributions were paid, earnings during working life and whether a person contracted out of the scheme.
Consumer group Which? confirmed the maximum Additional Pension payment for 2026/27 stands at £230.54 per week, excluding any state pension top-up payments.
Eligible pensioners usually receive Additional Pension automatically alongside their basic state pension unless they previously contracted out.
The basic state pension also increased this tax year, rising from £176.45 to £184.90 per week for pensioners with a full National Insurance record.
Combined with maximum Additional Pension payments, some pensioners on the pre-2016 system may receive more each week than those claiming the new state pension.
The full new state pension increased from £230.25 to £241.30 per week for the 2026/27 tax year.
Additional Pension payments remain subject to income tax under existing rules.