State Pension is set to rise on April 6 – why you might not get it straight away

The maximum state pension depends on a number of factors, with increases coming into effect each year. This is down to whichever is the highest between, the average percentage growth in wages in Great Britain, the percentage growth in prices in the UK as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), and 2.5 per cent. Should someone on the new state pension have a protected payment, their amount would increase on an annual basis, in line with the CPI. Changes are about to take place to the full amount available on the state pension.

The annual increase will occur next month, from April 6.

The most amount of money you can currently get via the basic state pension is £125.95 per week.

This will rise by £3.25 per week next month, to £129.20.

Meanwhile, those on the new state pension will see a £4.25 weekly increase.

It currently stands at £164.35, but will be raised to £168.60.

However, while the funds may be worked out at a weekly rate, they are in fact paid monthly.

Plus, the money is paid in arrears, meaning those eligible are paid for the last four weeks, rather than the upcoming four weeks.

Depending on the date of the month in which you receive your state pension, this means you may need to wait several weeks before you access the extra funds as part of your state pension payments.

For those who claim the basic state pension, provided you’ve not deferred your payment, you would usually get it at the end of the first full week after reaching state pension age.

Those who are entitled to the new state pension should get the first payment within five weeks of reaching state pension age.

The day you are paid your state pension age depends on one particular factor.

The final two digits on your National Insurance number will affect this.

For instance, if this number ends in anything from 00 to 19, you will be paid on a Monday.

Likewise, those with the final two digits ranging from 20 to 39, are paid on a Tuesday.

This goes on through the week up until Friday, on which day those with numbers ending in 80 to 99 are paid.

The full state pension amount isn’t available for everyone, so it could be worth visiting the government website in order to work out how much you could get.