Full state pension will rise by nearly £500 next April under the triple lock

The full state pension will rise by £9.40 a week to around £250.70 from next April under the triple lock guarantee.

On a yearly basis, it will rise by £489, going from £12,547 to £13,036.

Under the triple lock the state pension increases every year by the highest of 2.5 per cent, inflation or average earnings growth – and the last of these outstripped the rest this time.

Wage growth came in at 3.9 per cent, meaning that is how much the full, new state pension will rise in April 2027.

It was confirmed after the announcement today that the Consumer Prices Index inflation rate came in at 3.5 per cent in September.

It means the headline state pension will top £13,000 from next spring. 

Meanwhile, people who retired before spring 2016 on the old basic state pension should see a £7.20 a week rise to £192.10, or around £10,000 a year.

However, those on the basic rate also get hefty top-ups, called S2P or Serps, if those were earned earlier in life, and these elements of people's payments will rise in line with the latest 3.5 per cent inflation figure.

Triple lock will be ditched in 2030 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently announced plans to ditch the state pension triple lock in favour of a double lock linked to inflation.

He said in his speech to Labour's annual conference that from April 2030 the state pension would increase every year according to the highest of price rises or 2.5 per cent.

This would knock average wage growth out of the triple lock – although Mr Burnham said the state pension would still hold its value relative to earnings over time, so pensioners continued to share in economic growth.

He said the overhaul would create 'significant savings' that would be used to fund a new National Care Service. 

However, the plans for 2030 hinge on Labour or another party that favours the policy winning the next election.

Meanwhile, unless the headline state pension is your sole income, from next year you will see at least some of it clawed back in income tax as it will bust the basic rate threshold of £12,570.

The Government says it is committed to letting older people off paying income tax if their 'only income is the full new or basic state pension without any increments', but details are still pending.

Many people with any private work or personal pensions are already taxpayers, as are older state pensioners who earned sizeable Serps or S2P during their working lives, and they are among the many who will miss out on the 'waiver'.