Thanks to next week’s Bank Holiday, state pensioners born after 1951 or 1953 – depending on if they’re a man of woman – are being paid the Full New State Pension early.
State pensioners have woken up to a unexpected payment on Friday morning. Thanks to next week’s Bank Holiday, state pensioners born after 1951 or 1953 – depending on if they’re a man of woman – are being paid the Full New State Pension early.
The full, new State Pension amount for those who reached State Pension age on or after April 6, 2016, is £230.25 per week in the 2025-26 financial year. This is the maximum weekly amount you can receive.
It means state pensioners get £921 a month. If your payment date is on a weekend or a bank holiday, you’ll usually be paid on the working day before, owing to the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) Bank Holiday guidance.
READ MORE Six driving law changes in May set to affect millions of drivers
Those who get their pension on Monday, May 5 will instead receive their pension payment this coming Friday (May 2). The money is usually paid into your account every 4 weeks in arrears. Your payment day depends on the last two digits of your National Insurance number:
- 00 to 19 – Monday
- 20 to 39 – Tuesday
- 40 to 59 – Wednesday
- 60 to 79 – Thursday
- 80 to 99 – Friday
If your normal payment day is a bank holiday, you might be paid earlier. Alicia Harries, Information and Advice Development Manager at charity Independent Age told us in our piece about benefits you can claim: “In 2021/22, only 63% of eligible older people received Pension Credit – 880,000 people missed out on a share of £2.1 billion.”
Many people don’t realise that the level at which you qualify for Pension Credit you can receive rises if you get other benefits like Carer’s Allowance or Attendance Allowance.
Harries says: “Often people aren’t aware of these additions, so they often naturally exclude themselves from Pension Credit, believing their income is above the basic level.
“They also worry about the process of claiming being stressful or complicated, or it’s quite common for them to think ‘there is someone worse off than me and if I claim others may lose out’. That’s not the case.”
