Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today confirmed the exact amount of some benefits and the state pension will be increased by next year. As part of the Triple Lock Guarantee, your national pension will be increased by 8.5% from April next year. The triple lock was introduced in 2010 and makes sure the state pension rises every April by whichever is highest out of: inflation (using the previous September rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation), wages (average growth between May and July), or 2.5%. The highest of these for this year is average wages, which was confirmed to be 8.5%. The state pension increase was confirmed today in the Autumn Statement and comes after rumours suggested the Chancellor could use a lower figure of 7.8%, based on average wages excluding bonuses. The state pension rose by a bumper 10.1% this year. The news will be welcome news for low-income pensioners after the triple lock was downgraded to a double lock in 2022 after the Covid pandemic pushed earnings growth higher as workers returned from furlough. The full new state pension is currently worth £203.85 per week, and the old basic state pension is worth £156.20 per week. The rise means the full new state pension will rise to £221.20 per week, and the old basic state pension will rise to £169.50. Mr Hunt said today in his speech in the House of Commons: "That is one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension - showing a Conservative government will always back our pensioners." The Treasury also confirmed today that a portion of the benefit will be increased next April in line with the rise in the consumer price index (CPI) last September. This means some benefits will increase by 6.7%. Earlier this week, it had been reported that the Treasury was considering using the smaller October inflation figure of 4.6% to raise benefits. The benefits that usually rise in line with inflation are:

• Attendance Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Pension Credit
• Personal Independence Payment
• Statutory Maternity / Paternity / Adoption / Shared Parental Pay
• Statutory Sick Pay
• Tax Credits
• Universal Credit