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Triple lock increase for April 2027 is 3.9% (probably)
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However I wonder how many women gained SERPS in the old scenario? I suspect women are the losers.
Of course the exact opposite is the case. One of the really good things to come out of the new state pension is that the gap in state pension under the new state pension between males and females has hugely narrowed.
At March 2026 on average females in receipt of the pre 2016 state pension receive £29 per week less than the average male, and females in receipt of the new state pension on average receive about £3 per week less than the average male. Here are the latest DWP figures
I came, I saw, I melted2 -
Those figures will give the state pension people are getting now, so for the pre-2016 pension it'll include a large number who accrued under SERPS pre 2002 which wasn't good for low paid or carers. What I think is more interesting is a comparison between what someone would have got from the old state pension under post-2002 rules ie old basic state pension plus S2P, and the new state pension.
Under those rules the low paid, carers and those claiming child ben for a child under 12 would get credits as if they earned the LET which in today's terms (LET was earnings indexed) is £23699.
The 40% replacement rate for earnings above the old BSP would mean someone who spent their working life either caring for children under 12, or claiming carer's allowance for caring for an old/disabled relative, or working in a low paid job, they would end up with a state pension of £15,249, well above the NSP.
So S2P made things better for the low paid/carers etc, but the NSP made things worse (though still better than SERPS).
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Only advice I got was not to choose the married women's "stamp" - golden!
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To be fair, that would have been before the abolition of contracting out was even on the cards. But I can well understand why you are feeling well miffed now.
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Well done for listening. Back in the early 1970s I worked with a couple of married ladies who took great delight in boasting about how much more money they had, due to paying the reduced stamp. When a friend returned to work after getting married, they were adamant that she should sign the option, to get her extra money. My friend, who had received the same advice as you, declined saying that she wanted a State pension in her own right. They laughed at her for her 'stupidity' in turning down 'free money'. I bet they aren't laughing now.
Mind you, they weren't alone in making this 'free money' mistake. Before I got married, my mum told me to be sure to claim my tax (NI) back, as married women didn't have to pay as much. This was well after the scheme closed to new options in 1977, so I just told her that it was no longer possible. Cue complaints of 'robbing bar stewards'. If this had been pre 1977, I know she wouldn't have understood my decision to pay full rate NI instead of 'saving' the difference.
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the sound like WASPIes !
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I don't know about my 1970s colleagues, but my mum certainly knew about the re-equalisation of State pension ages in 1995. Not because it would affect her - she was 65 - but she and her similar aged friends had a good whinge about it for their daughter's sakes.
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The HM Treasury statement of 25th August 2026 which was issued to the media but not to the wider public has been obtained by an FOI request and the wording was
Pensioners whose only income is the full new or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay income tax and we are committed to that over this Parliament.
By keeping the Triple Lock, 12 million pensioners will see their income rise by up to £470 this year, and they continue to benefit from one of the most generous Personal Allowances in the G7.
Background information: Work is already underway to ensure pensioners whose only income is the full new or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay income tax across this Parliament, we will set out further details in due course
I came, I saw, I melted3 -
That's just straightforward innumeracy. And the irrational stubbornness just gold-plates it!
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Get ready for some waves. Saying that, if it remains linked to inflation it won't save a lot in relative terms. No doubt a few years until anything comes into force. Maybe the start of the journey towards some type of means testing.
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