The state pension is to increase by £290 a year (£5.50 per week) in April 2022, after the Consumer Prices Index hit 3.1% in September, the third highest pension increase since the introduction of the triple-lock.

Retirees were recently told their incomes would rise either by 2.5% or the level of inflation in 2022/23, whichever is highest, after the Government suspended the pensions triple-lock for a year given an unusually high change in earnings of 8%.

Some pensioners will be disappointed that the Government broke its manifesto commitment to the triple-lock, while others will accept the words of Work and Pensions Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, that this year's high wage growth was a "statistical anomaly".

People who claim the full new state pension are likely to start receiving £185.15 per week from April 2022, while those with the full basic state pension will get £141.85 per week.

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said:

"An 8.3% earnings based increase would have represented a windfall bonus for state pensioners, but would have created a £7.5bn annual bill paid for from the National Insurance of today's workers.

"However, if inflation continues to surge in the coming months, there's a concern the 3.1% increase may fall short of cost of living increases come April 2022."

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