Up-rating decisions announced to Parliament

The Secretary of State announced his up-rating decisions to Parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 26 November 2025¹. The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026 sets the rates of State Pensions and benefits for the tax year 2026/27, replacing SI 2025/295 which set the rates for 2025/26¹. The Order provides for the annual up-rating of social security benefits specified in sections 150, 150A and 151A of the 1992 Act¹.

The basic State Pension increases by 4.8% from April 2026¹. The increase in earnings over the relevant period was 4.8%, higher than both the growth in prices (3.8%) and 2.5%, so the Triple Lock gives the earnings figure¹. The full rate of the new State Pension rises by 4.8% in April 2026, from £230.25 to £241.30 a week¹. The full basic pension in a Category A and Category B State Pension rises from £176.45 to £184.90 a week, and the lower rate of Category B basic pension rises from £105.70 to £110.75 a week¹.

Rates linked to prices rise by 3.8% from April 2026¹. These include Additional State Pension, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Personal Independence Payment, Severe Disablement Allowance, Widowed Mother's Allowance and Widowed Parent's Allowance¹. The same 3.8% applies to personal allowances in Housing Benefit, Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance; additional amounts in Pension Credit payable on grounds of disability and caring responsibilities; carer and disability premiums in Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance and Housing Benefit; the child amounts, carer amounts and transitional severe disability premiums in Universal Credit; contributory Employment and Support Allowance; and pensioner and carer premiums in income-related Employment and Support Allowance¹. Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay and Statutory Sick Pay also rise by 3.8%¹.

The Pension Credit standard minimum guarantee, and the widow's pension and widower's pension in Industrial Death Benefit, rise by 4.8% from April 2026¹. The savings credit threshold in Pension Credit is also being increased, to deliver an increase in the savings credit maximum in line with the increase in CPI¹. Bereavement Support Payment rates will remain the same as in 2025/26¹. The majority of new rates are rounded to the nearest 5 pence¹.

Taken together, the total cost of up-rating changes in 2026/27 will be £11 billion, of which £9 billion is given effect through the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026¹. Overall Exchequer expenditure will increase by £9 billion in 2026/27¹.

Why it matters for households

The changes take effect from April 2026 and apply to the 2026/27 tax year¹. Pensioners on the basic State Pension or the new State Pension receive a 4.8% increase, while people receiving disability and carer benefits, working-age benefits and statutory payments receive 3.8%¹. The gap between the two figures reflects the different statutory tests: the basic and new State Pensions are uprated by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5%, while the other benefits listed are uprated at least in line with prices¹.

Some Universal Credit and income-related Employment and Support Allowance rates are not covered by the Order. The Universal Credit Act 2025 removed them from the Secretary of State's up-rating review and provided a separate framework for altering them, so they will be subject to separate provision coming into force on the same date as the Order¹. The Order does not set out those rates.

The Order's extent is Great Britain, except for articles 1, 3, 7, 14 and 15 insofar as they relate to the devolved benefits¹. Executive functions for Carer's Allowance in relation to residents in Scotland transferred to the Scottish Ministers with effect from 3 September 2018, and functions for Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Industrial Injuries Benefits, Personal Independence Payment and Severe Disablement Allowance transferred with effect from 1 April 2020¹. All of these apart from Industrial Injuries Benefits and Severe Disablement Allowance will, by 6 April 2026, have been replaced by new Scottish Government benefits delivered by Social Security Scotland¹. The Scottish Ministers will make provision for the up-rating of Industrial Injuries Benefits and Severe Disablement Allowance in Scotland¹. The Department for Communities will be responsible for bringing forward corresponding provision for Northern Ireland¹.

On employer costs, the memorandum states that for small businesses whose annual gross National Insurance payments are £45,000 or less, the Order does not impose any new costs². Employers meet the full costs of Statutory Sick Pay, with smaller employers reimbursed 100% of the amount they have paid out and larger employers reimbursed for 92% of the costs¹.

What happens next

The Order replaces SI 2025/295 and sets rates for the 2026/27 tax year¹. Separate provision covering the Universal Credit and income-related Employment and Support Allowance rates removed from the up-rating review will come into force on the same date as the Order¹. The Scottish Ministers will bring forward provision for Industrial Injuries Benefits and Severe Disablement Allowance in Scotland, and the Department for Communities will bring forward corresponding provision for Northern Ireland¹. The date the Order itself comes into force has not been reported in the documents seen.