Guidance updated with rates effective from 11 April 2022

The Department for Work and Pensions updated two pieces of guidance with the latest benefit rates effective from 11 April 2022, according to the update logs on both pages¹. The pages are "Your new State Pension explained" and the "New Style Employment and Support Allowance: detailed guide"¹.

The State Pension guidance, first published on 17 November 2014, explains the changes to the State Pension from 6 April 2016 and is aimed at people who reach State Pension age on or after that date¹. Its update history records a series of annual rate changes: 9 April 2018, 8 April 2019, 6 April 2020, 12 April 2021 and 11 April 2022¹. Later entries record updates effective from 10 April 2023, 8 April 2024, figures updated for 2025-26, and rates effective from 6 April 2026¹.

The New Style ESA guidance, published on 17 June 2019, covers a fortnightly contributory payment that can be claimed on its own or alongside Universal Credit². Its update log also records rates effective from 6 April 2020, 12 April 2021 and 11 April 2022, followed by entries for 10 April 2023 and 8 April 2024². The page states that New Style ESA is paid at the end of every two weeks into a bank, building society or credit union account².

The guidance sets out how amounts are structured. In the assessment phase, the first 13 weeks of a claim, the basic allowance is up to £75.65 a week for those aged 18 to 24 and up to £95.55 a week for those aged 25 and over². In the main phase, the basic allowance is up to £95.55 a week, plus a support component of £50.35 a week for those in the support group². The page does not state which year these figures apply to, and the update log does not attach amounts to individual uprating dates².

The same wording appears in the update log of the New Style ESA guidance for the same date².

Why it matters for households

Benefit rates normally change at the start of the tax year, and the update logs show the State Pension and New Style ESA amounts being revised on a series of April dates, including 11 April 2022¹. For anyone whose award is calculated from these rates, the amount paid changes from the effective date recorded on the page¹. The State Pension guidance applies to people reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016¹. New Style ESA is a contributory benefit, normally available to those who have paid or been credited with enough National Insurance contributions in the two full tax years before the year of claim, and it is reduced by half of any occupational or personal pension income above £85 a week². Where New Style ESA and Universal Credit are both awarded, the New Style ESA paid reduces the Universal Credit payment by the same amount².

What happens next

Both pages carry later update entries than the 11 April 2022 change: rates effective from 10 April 2023, 8 April 2024, and, for the State Pension page, figures updated for 2025-26 and rates effective from 6 April 2026¹. The New Style ESA page records an update on 6 April 2026 described as updating figures with 2026/27 values as part of uprating². No further effective dates beyond those entries have been reported¹.