A proposal has been put forward to change state pension payment amounts (Image: Getty)
The DWP has issued a response to a query about changing the payment amounts for the .
Liberal Democrat MP Rachel Gilmour asked in Parliament if the Government would consider amending the policy so payments go out in monthly instalments.
The is currently paid in four-week instalments. The full basic is currently set at £169.50 a week, so those on this rate get £678 each pay period.
The full new is £221.20 a week, so if you are on this, you will receive £884.80 each pay period.
If the system was changed to a monthly payment, the full basic would be worth on average £734.50 each pay period while the full new amount would be around £958.50.
Labour pensions minister Emma Reynolds said in response to the proposal for monthly payments: ” payments are usually paid four weekly in arrears.
“People have the option to be paid weekly or in some circumstances bi-weekly. There are no plans to introduce alternative payment arrangements.”
payments are increasing 4.1 percent in April in accordance with the policy.
This will lift the full new to £230.25 a week while the full basic will pay £176.45 a week.
Labour has committed to the for this Parliament, meaning state pensioners will continue to see their payments rise in line with the highest of 2.5 percent, inflation or the increase of average earnings.
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With the rising cost of the , many experts are predicting the Government will have to change the metric for determining the increase in the before too long.
Steven Cameron, pensions director at wealth firm , suggested one alternative is to have a figure based on the average increase in either inflation or earnings across a three-year period.
Payments went up by a record 10.1 percent in April 2023 due to high levels of inflation and then by a sizeable 8.5 percent the following year, in line with the increase in earnings.
He said: “If you averaged it out more, it would become more predictable and it might be more fair across generations.”
He said the inflation metric should remain to ensure pensioners’ payments at least keep up with the rising .