State pension: 25 pence age addition

Pensioners aged 80 and over receive an addition of 25 pence to their state pension. The age addition was introduced in 1971, in recognition of “the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others”. It has never been uprated, with successive Governments either arguing that greater priority should be given to protecting the level of the basic benefits, or choosing to target additional resources at older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.

The Government has announced its intention to reform the state pension, introducing a single-tier state pension for future pensioners from April 2016. The single-tier pension will not include an age addition. However, people already over State Pension age when the reforms are introduced will continue to receive their state pension in line with existing rules.

Information about these reforms is in Library Standard Note SN 6525 Single-tier State Pension. Other pensioner benefits are covered in SN 6354 – Pensioner benefits.