Does the additional State Pension increase each year?

Does the additional State Pension increase each year? Yes, by CPI inflation: 3.8% in April 2026, against 4.8% for the basic State Pension.

Born before April 1951 (men) or April 1953 (women)? Then your State Pension may include additional State Pension, the earnings-linked extra built up under SERPS and later the State Second Pension. Each April it is raised by a different percentage from the main part of your pension. Which of these percentages touches your own money depends on how your SERPS and basic pension combine. Want that worked out? Fill in this page's form for a no-charge phone-back from an FCA-authorised adviser, and have your SERPS and basic amounts looked at together.

Does the additional State Pension go up every April?

Yes. Additional pensions already being paid are raised on 6 April under the yearly Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order, using CPI inflation. The 3.8 per cent matches the CPI figure in the Government Actuary's table for 2026. The 2026 Order directs that "additional pensions in long-term benefits calculated by reference to any final relevant year earlier than the tax year 2025-2026" rise by 3.8 per cent, and its increases for retirement pensions took effect on 6 April 2026.

The rise is a percentage of whatever you already receive, so it adds different sums to different people. GOV.UK says "there is no fixed amount for the Additional State Pension". You do not apply for the increase: it arrives with the basic State Pension, since the two are paid together.

What were the April 2026 percentages?

Three yardsticks decide the main State Pension rise: earnings, CPI and a 2.5% minimum. For April 2026 the Government Actuary's report lists CPI at 3.8%, earnings at 4.8% and the 2.5% floor, so the triple lock gave 4.8%. Here is how that looked across the parts of a State Pension:

Two neighbours can therefore see different percentages on the same April letter, depending on what their pension is made of. The State Pension rate page shows how a personal amount is built up.

Is the additional State Pension covered by the triple lock?

No. The Actuary's report says the lock's increases "are applied to basic and new State Pension payments, excluding increases for deferral". Additional pension has its own paragraph in the Order, at the CPI figure. In any year when earnings growth or the 2.5% floor comes out above inflation, the basic part of a pension rises faster than the additional part.

Over a long retirement that gap compounds, so it is worth knowing which of your amounts sits on which side of it; how wide it grows depends on how much of your pension is additional. How the lock itself works is on the triple lock page.

Do you still get a rise if you are on the new State Pension?

The new State Pension has no additional pension of its own, but some people carry a trace of it. A "protected payment" is for a person with Additional State Pension built up before 2016 who would have been better off under the old rules, and it sits on top of the full rate. GOV.UK says the new State Pension itself "increases each year by whichever is the highest" of earnings growth, CPI prices growth and 2.5%, which is the triple lock in plain words. The protected payment is treated differently: it "increases each year in line with the CPI".

The Order shows it as the part of a transitional-rate pension that is above the full rate, again raised by 3.8 per cent. The new State Pension against the old comparison explains which system you are in, and the contracted-out page covers how earlier contracting out can pull a figure down.

What makes up your additional pension, and why do amounts differ?

GOV.UK gives four influences on the amount: your contribution years, your pay over those years, any period when you were contracted out, and a top-up of the basic pension, which could only be bought between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017. Two people born on the same day can end up with very different additional amounts, so the same rise adds a different sum of money to each. A 3.8% rise on a small base is a small cash sum, and on a larger one it is noticeably bigger.

For the rules on who qualifies and how it is paid now, the additional State Pension page covers the basics. Here the point is that a percentage rise is only as large as the amount it is applied to.

Inherited additional pension and deferral increases

If your husband, wife or civil partner has died, you may be able to inherit part of their additional pension; the inheritance page gives the rules and the dates that matter. If you were widowed and are now on the new State Pension, the Pensions Act 2014 splits the yearly rise. So far as the inherited amount and your own new State Pension together stay within the full rate, it goes up by the same percentage as the full rate, 4.8% in April 2026; any part above the full rate rises by the up-rating order's figure, 3.8 per cent in 2026. The same Order lifts the prescribed maximum additional pension for survivors entitled on or after 6 April 2016 from £222.10 to £230.54. Inherited under the old rules instead? Survivors in that position can note the question down for an FCA-authorised adviser; leaving a number in the form gets a no-fee phone call to talk it over.

The extra earned by putting off a claim is a separate matter. The same Order raises increases under Schedule 5, the deferral schedule, by 3.8 per cent, and the Actuary's report notes that Additional Pension can itself be deferred. Whether deferral suits you is covered in should I defer my State Pension?.

More about SERPS and S2P rises

Does a SERPS pension rise with inflation?

Yes. SERPS is the earlier name for what became the additional State Pension, and in April 2026 it rose by 3.8 per cent, the CPI figure.

Will it rise again next April?

Expect an increase each April, but the percentage is not known until it is announced and made law, which in 2026 meant an Order made on 2 March. The 3.8 per cent matched September's CPI in the Government Actuary's table, so the September inflation figure is the one to watch. Check GOV.UK for the announced figure rather than relying on a newspaper forecast.

Is the extra I get for deferring index-linked?

In April 2026 the deferral increases rose by 3.8 per cent under the same Order. The triple lock excludes them, so they follow CPI rather than the 4.8% the basic pension got.

Does my forecast show the contracted-out amount?

Contracted-out rights can make a forecast hard to read, and the contracted-out page explains the deduction, while whether a guaranteed minimum pension increases covers the workplace-scheme side. If your forecast's contracted-out line puzzles you, it is a good topic for the call-back: put your details into the form and an adviser will explain it at no cost.

Why is my April rise different from the headline figure?

Headlines usually quote the triple lock figure, which applies to the basic and full new State Pension. Additional pension and protected payments follow CPI instead, so a pension made up of both parts rises by a blend.

Checking what your own rise was

Compare last year's and this year's DWP letters line by line: the basic, additional and any protected or deferred amounts should each have risen by the percentages in the table above. If one line looks off, ask the DWP's Pension Service to explain it before assuming an error; MoneyHelper gives free guidance as well, and the UK State Pension guide shows how the whole pension fits together. Your award letter plus these percentages gives you the pounds. Take your letter to the call-back that the short form here arranges; there is no fee.