More than 12.4 million older people in the UK, including over 981,000 Scots, currently claim the State Pension.
Those who have reached the official UK retirement age — currently 66 for both men and women — are able to claim the payment.
However, as reported by the Daily Record, people approaching the retirement age this year may not know that the State Pension is not automatically paid into their account.
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Rather, it needs to be manually claimed through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), with those failing to do potentially missing out on payments of up to £179.60 a week.
The reason for this is that people may continue working upon reaching the State Pension age as they may wish to continue adding to their pension pot.
As stated in DWP guidance: “You do not get your State Pension automatically - you have to claim it. You should get a letter no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do.”
It continues: “If you want to defer, you do not have to do anything. Your pension will automatically be deferred until you claim it.”
Only those who respond to their letter stating that they wish to claim State Pension will start receiving payments, with the DWP interpreting no response as a wish to defer.
Deferring for at least nine weeks will result in an increase to the amount you receive when you do decide to start claiming payments.
The State Pension rises by the equivalent of 1% for every nine weeks you defer, this works out as just under 5.8% for every 52 weeks.
The extra amount is paid with your regular State Pension payment, however, it’s important to be aware that any extra payments you get from deferring could be taxed.
State Pension weekly payment rates
State Pension payment rates will rise by 3.1% from Monday, April 11, the new rates are shown below:
- Full New State Pension: £185.15 (from £179.60)
- Basic Old State Pension (Category A or B): £141.85 (from £137.60)
There are different rules around how much additional payment you could receive depending on when you were born and which State Pension payment you receive - either the old, basic or full, new.
More information about deferring your State Pension can be found on the GOV.UK website here.
