Eligible pensioners over 80 can boost their State Pension payments (Image: Getty)
State pensioners who started claiming their pension before one specific date can add up to £5,496.40 extra per year to their State Pension pot by making one application.
Eligible retirees with either a basic State Pension of less than £105.70 per week, or no basic State Pension at all, can claim an ‘over 80 pension’ from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). If you are a man born before April 6, 1951, or a woman born before April 6, 1953, then you’ll get the basic State Pension, which is now worth up to £176.45 per week if you get the full rate. This is thanks to a 4.1% uprating from April 7, which increased weekly payments from the previous rate of £169.50.
To get the full weekly payment, men born between 1945 and 1951 usually need 30 qualifying years of National Insurance (NI), or 44 qualifying years if you were born before 1945. By comparison, women born between 1950 and 1953 usually need 30 qualifying years, and those born before 1950 need 39 years.
Read More: State Pension age change for anyone born after 1977
So if you have less than the full number of qualifying NI years then your State Pension payments will be less than £176.45 per week.
But the good news is that if your State Pension payments are less than £105.70 per week – and you’re aged 80 or over – then you can top up your weekly earnings by claiming the over 80 pension from the DWP.
The DWP says those who reached State Pension age on or after April 6, 2016, cannot get the over 80 pension, so if you started claiming the pension payouts from the DWP after this date you won’t be eligible to claim the extra money.
If you’re eligible, the amount you’ll get will depend on how much basic State Pension you get – if any – but if you’re getting less than £105.70 weekly, then you could get the difference paid up to this amount.
The DWP says an 80 year old who gets £43 per week basic State Pension, for example, would get an extra £62.70 to top up their weekly amount to £105.70. So over a year, this would add up to £5,496.40 extra to your pension.
You must have been a UK resident for at least 10 years out of a 20 year period, which must include the day before you turned 80 or any day after, or you were ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar on your 80th birthday, or the date you submitted your claim for the over 80 pension.
Unlike the basic and new State Pension schemes, your eligibility for the over 80 pension isn’t based on National Insurance contributions. Claimants should also note that the over 80 pension counts as taxable income, so if you’re claiming any other benefits these could be affected.
You can apply for the scheme by requesting a claim form from your local Jobcentre Plus, or by calling the Pension Service on 0800 731 7898. The earliest you can submit a claim is up to three months before your 80th birthday, or any time after.
Labour tipped to hike fuel duty costs for all petrol and diesel drivers after this date
Motorists face petrol and diesel fuel duty price hikes (Image: Getty)
Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been tipped to raise fuel duty by up to 10p per litre in a potential blow to petrol and diesel drivers. Robert Salter, a director at Blick Rothenberg, warned raising prices could be a consequence of planned increases in defence and transport spending.
The expert stressed the Government could pay for a planned £6billion defence spending package by taking economic measures such as reducing tax relief on pensioners. Mr Salter stressed the Government could restrict Inheritance tax thresholds or raise corporation tax. But, he admitted fuel duty was another lever officials could tap into in a bid to generate revenue.
Experts warn Rachel Reeves may consider fuel duty rises (Image: Getty)
Fuel duty brings in around £25billion per year and is a significant source of revenue for the Treasury.
However, Blick Rothenberg warns that an end to the 5p freeze and an extra raise could be on the horizon at the Autumn Budget later this year.
Robert said: “Another option is to end the ‘temporary’ 5p per litre cut to fuel duty, which was introduced in 2022, and was extended in Ms Reeves’s first budget.
“It is now due to end in March 2026 and may now come to an end. The ‘temporary easement/ is presently costing ca. £2billion per annum.
“The Government could go further and raise it by say 10p per litre, which would potentially raise £4bn.
“But practically, the Government needs to look at alternative options for raising revenue from motorists, as fuel duty will be coming down over the next few years, as more and more people move to e-vehicles or at least hybrids.”
Robert warned there was a “risk” that hiking fuel duty fees too sharply could accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
However, if everyone adopted the new models the Government could stand to lose significant revenue with an alternative to fuel duty not yet mapped out.
Robert suggested the Government could consider putting in alternative plans to raise equivalent revenues such as toll roads.
The Government continued the Conservatives’ fuel duty freeze at the last Autumn Budget back in October 2024.
Any update on fuel duty fees is likely to come at the next Autumn Budget with no date yet to be confirmed.
Despite this, it is expected that the Chancellor will present her latest statement around October and November 2025.
