DWP sending urgent letters to pension recipient born this year

The Department for Work and Pensions is writing to state pensioners born before 1960 with details of the April 2026 pension increase

James Rodger Content Editor and Dan Grennan Audience Writer

17:22, 24 Mar 2026Updated 15:29, 25 Mar 2026

Pensioners have been warned (stock)(Image: Getty)

The Department for Work and Pensions is dispatching correspondence to everyone aged 66 and above containing fresh state pension information ahead of an increase in April. The DWP is contacting state pensioners who were born during and around 1960, or in the preceding years.

Letters are being posted to everyone over 66 featuring revised state pension payment information. One person receiving the correspondence shared on the HMRC forum: "I received a letter today saying that my State Pension will increase from April 2026. I receive my pension weekly."

The adjustment will mean those on the full New State Pension collect 241.30 per week, while those on the maximum Basic State Pension would collect 184.90 per week. Someone on the full New State Pension presently collects 230.25 per week, or 921 every four-week payment cycle.

[Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (stock)]

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (stock)

Those on the full Basic State Pension collect 176.45 each week, or 705.80 every four-week payment cycle. CSPA General Secretary Sally Tsoukaris remarked: "The 4.8% is welcome news thanks to the continuation of the triple-lock, which is vital to ensure that State Pensions keep pace with wage growth as well as inflation so that pensioners income does not suffer the decline relative to wages that occurred prior to its introduction in 2011," reports Birmingham Live.

"Many pensioners are struggling in retirement and yet are being dragged into the 20% tax bracket on relatively low incomes.

"Three-quarters of all pensioners are now paying income tax after a lifetime of working, and millions more are now paying tax.

"CSPA and our partners in Later Life Ambitions are preparing a `Budget for Later Life`, launched last October, and that includes raising the basic personal tax thresholds; and retaining the State Pension triple-lock."

[A man checks his finances]

Key changes to the state pension are coming in (stock)(Image: Getty)

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The ongoing freeze of income tax thresholds will mean more of the State Pension rise will be claimed in income tax as additional pensioners fall within the tax threshold of 12,570, which has remained static since April 2021, and isn't scheduled to rise until at least April 2028.

Had the threshold increased alongside CPI inflation it would now stand at 15,518, comfortably above the highest rate of State Pension.

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