Martin Lewis issues warning to 'vast majority' who get paid state pension

Mr Lewis says not everyone sees their payments go up by the same amount.

Martin Lewis has explained the two reasons why the "vast majority" on the state pension will see payments rise by LESS than £473 next year. The BBC and ITV star says not everyone sees their payments go up by the same amount.

Speaking on this week's The Martin Lewis Podcast, Mr Lewis revealed there are reasons millions will not get the full headline figure. Martin said: "The figure you will see in most places quoted that state pensioners will see a rise of £475 a year, in practical terms that is an unrealistic figure for the vast majority of pensioners who will not see that rise."

Discussing the new full new state pension, Mr Lewis explained this pension came in in April 2016 and is a "totally new" type of pension for anyone who hits state pension age in or after that time. Money Saving Expert founder Martin continued: "But if you look at the numbers, only one in four state pensioners get the new state pension, the rest are on the old state pension because they hit state pension age beforehand.

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"The old state pension is less in its basic form than the new state pension, therefore a 4.1% rise in the old state pension is not as much so the vast majority of state pensioners won't see £475 a year, they will see £363 a year as the full old state pension rise - it's much smaller than is often quoted."

He said: "If you don't have your 'full' qualifying years which millions don't, especially many of the poorest - many of those who are eligible for pension credit - then you won't get the full rise because it is a 4.1% rise on what you got and the £363 a year for the old state pension is if you're on the 'full' old state pension."

He continued: "But also in the debate over winter fuel payment is what's often quoted is the triple lock increase of £475. But only one in four state pensioners get the new state pension which is the higher amount and many of those won't be on the 'full' state pension - so we need to be slightly careful, many people have come to me and said yeah but they get this triple lock of this much extra a year - but the vast majority of pensioners won't get the full £475 which is what you will see quoted in many media outlets and many government communications.

"The vast majority of pensioners will see an uplift that is far less than that because the vast majority of state pensioners are on the old state pension and many don't have the full state pension."