How your pension keeps pace with inflation

We will increase your pension in line with the cost of living each April, so it maintains its spending power.

• The increase for April 2025 is expected to be 1.7 per cent.

The mechanism we use to inflation proof your pension when it is in payment is called Pensions Increase (PI). 

The increase is normally based on the September to September adjustment in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and applies to your pension from the following April. Pension increase cannot be negative, so your pension will stay at the same rate if the cost of living decreases. There is no limit on the amount of increase we will apply to your pension if the rise in the cost of living is high. HM Treasury specifies the adjustment we must make, usually in March each year.

The first increase to your pension after retirement will normally only be a part year increase, based on how many months you have been retired. We apply pensions increase on the first Monday on or after the start of the tax year. Therefore, you will receive a partial increase to your monthly pension payment in April, with the full increase coming through in the May payment.

You must be age 55 or over to receive pension increases unless you have retired due to ill health.

You might have a Guaranteed Minimum Pension if you paid into your pension between 1978 and 1997. If this applies to you, and your State Pension Age was before 1 April 2016, GMPF will pay some of the pension increases to you with your GMPF pension, and the Government will pay the remainder with your state pension payments.