What is the State Pension triple lock?
The triple lock raises the full basic and new State Pensions each April by the highest of three measures: CPI inflation in the year to September, growth in average weekly earnings in May to July, or 2.5%. DWP's abstract of benefit rate statistics says State Pension uprating has been based on the triple lock since April 2011.
The same source shows which measure applied each year: 10.1% in April 2023 (inflation), 8.5% in April 2024 and 4.1% in April 2025 (both earnings). For April 2022 the earnings element was suspended, so pensions rose by 3.1% in line with inflation. The April 2026 rise was 4.8%, matching earnings growth.
Only the full flat rates are covered: protected payments and the additional State Pension rise with CPI. The government has announced an adjusted triple lock from April 2030; see whether the triple lock is changing.
When is the next figure out?
DWP statistics are pre-announced on the GOV.UK research and statistics calendar and published at 9:30am. Universal Credit statistics moved from monthly to quarterly releases in February, May, August and November after a 2026 consultation, with the final monthly release on 14 April 2026; provisional estimates were dropped and each quarterly release adds three months of finalised data. The benefits compendium, Benefit Combinations and National Insurance number allocations are now released together once a year. Fraud and error estimates appear each spring, and expenditure tables follow the Budget and spring forecast.
Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.
Where the figures come from
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics and Stat-XploreWhere to find DWP figures on Universal Credit, PIP, State Pension and Pension Credit, how to build a Stat-Xplore table and use the free Open Data API.
Related questions
This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about pensions and retirement: all Pensions and retirement questions.