The state pension for 2026/27, and how the triple lock set it
Photo by Vitaly Gariev · Unsplash
Earnings growth beat inflation this year, so the triple lock used the earnings figure. That single comparison, repeated every autumn, is the entire mechanism behind one of the state's largest annual spending decisions.
From 6 April 2026, the full new State Pension rose 4.8%, from £230.25 to £241.30 a week — £12,547.60 over a full year. The full Basic State Pension, paid to people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, rose by the same 4.8%, from £176.45 to £184.90 a week. Both figures come from the government's own Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027 publication. The number itself is straightforward to look up; the more useful thing to understand is the mechanism that decided it, because the same mechanism decides it again every year.
How the triple lock actually decides the number
Each autumn, the State Pension is uprated for the following April by whichever is highest of three figures:
- Average earnings growth, measured for May to July of that year.
- CPI inflation, measured to September of that year.
- A floor of 2.5%, regardless of what earnings or inflation actually did.
For the April 2026 uprating, average earnings growth for May–July 2025 came in at 4.8%, ahead of CPI inflation to September 2025 at 3.8%, and comfortably above the 2.5% floor. Earnings growth was the highest of the three, so 4.8% is the figure applied. In a year where inflation had been the higher figure instead, the pension would have risen by that number instead — the mechanism always takes the highest of the three, never an average of them.
The full picture, in one table
| 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full new State Pension (weekly) | £230.25 | £241.30 | +4.8% |
| Full new State Pension (annual) | £11,973 | £12,547.60 | +£574.60 |
| Full Basic State Pension (weekly) | £176.45 | £184.90 | +4.8% |
| Full Basic State Pension (annual) | £9,175.40 | £9,614.80 | +£439.40 |
The new State Pension and the Basic State Pension are not two rates for the same thing — which one you get depends on when you reached State Pension age, not on how you choose between them. Anyone reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 falls under the new State Pension system; anyone who reached it before that date remains on the old Basic State Pension, usually alongside an Additional State Pension (SERPS or S2P) built up separately. The amount either one actually pays out still depends on an individual's own National Insurance record — the figures above are the full rate, paid only to those with enough qualifying years, currently 35 for the new State Pension.
Why this rise matters for income tax, not just income
The full new State Pension is now £12,547.60 a year, against a Personal Allowance frozen at £12,570 — a gap of just £22.40. The state pension itself is taxable income; it is simply paid without tax deducted at source. For someone whose only income is the full new State Pension, there is currently nothing to pay, because it still sits under the allowance. But anyone drawing the full new State Pension alongside even a modest private pension, part-time earnings, or savings interest is now very close to — or already over — the point where HMRC collects tax on it, usually by adjusting the tax code on whichever other income is paid through PAYE. Because the Personal Allowance is frozen until 2031 and the triple lock has no upper limit, that gap narrows a little further with every uprating that beats 0.2% inflation-adjusted growth, which is effectively every year the triple lock produces a rise at all.
What actually determines your own amount
The 4.8% rise applies to the full rate; what an individual actually receives depends on their own National Insurance record. The new State Pension is built up in 1/35ths — each qualifying year of National Insurance contributions or credits adds roughly one thirty-fifth of the full rate, up to the maximum at 35 qualifying years, with at least 10 years usually needed to receive anything at all. Gaps from unemployment, time abroad, or years below the National Insurance threshold reduce the eventual amount below the full rate shown above, which is why a State Pension forecast from GOV.UK is the only reliable way to know what any individual will actually get, rather than assuming the full rate applies by default.
Gaps in a National Insurance record can sometimes be filled with voluntary contributions, which can be worthwhile precisely because of how much a single qualifying year is now worth. One extra 1/35th of £12,547.60 is roughly £358 a year for the rest of a retirement — often recovered from the cost of buying the missing year within two or three years of receiving it. Whether that trade makes sense depends on age, health, and how many years are already banked, which is exactly the kind of personal arithmetic a State Pension forecast is built to answer.
Is the triple lock guaranteed to continue
The current government has committed to keeping the triple lock for the rest of this Parliament, and the 2026/27 rise was calculated on that basis. Beyond that, its long-term cost is a recurring subject of official scrutiny: the Office for Budget Responsibility has repeatedly flagged in its fiscal risk reports that a state pension which is guaranteed never to fall behind earnings, inflation, or 2.5% — whichever is largest — becomes steadily more expensive as the number of pensioners grows and life expectancy extends the years each of them draws it. None of that changes the rate that applies for 2026/27, which is fixed; it is the reason the mechanism itself remains a live policy question every time a Budget approaches.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK: The new State Pension
- GOV.UK: Check your State Pension forecast
This is general information, not financial advice. Your own State Pension amount depends on your National Insurance record. Check your personal forecast on GOV.UK rather than relying on the full-rate figures above.