State pension age rise costs older people £5,067 DWP cash from August 6

Another block of state pension age rises are officially taking place in August as those who turn 66 and should have been eligible to collect a state pension are made to wait another five months, missing out on up to £5,067 worth of payments. The state pension age is officially increasing from 66 to 67 over the next two years, but when exactly you will be impacted by the change depends on your specific date of birth – with another group of retirees impacted this August.

Instead of a ‘cliff edge’ for all state pensioners aged 66 this year, the state pension age rise is being phased in over the course of two tax years. Several groups have already been impacted, with the fourth group impacted this month. The age at which retirees can claim their pension benefits from the state began increasing from April 6, 2026 for people born in certain date ranges. This state pension age increase was enacted in 2014, but the rise is not happening at the same time for all pensioners. Instead, it is gradually phased in over three tax years, depending on your date of birth.

So for some state pensioners, they will receive their state pension at age 66 and 1 month (which previously would have been at exactly age 66), all the way up in gradual one month increments to those who will get theirs aged 66 and 11 months, and then finally, pensioners who will not receive theirs until age 67, in two years’ time.

Who receives their state pension from 66 and 1 month and who has to wait until they’re 67 is entirely dependent on their date of birth.

The monthly incremental phase-in has been set based on blocks of monthly birth date ranges, beginning in April 1960.

Those who were born between April 6, 1960 and May 5, 1960 get their state pension from 66 years and 1 month – that means they were eligible for state pension payments from May 6 to June 6, 2026, whereas without the age rise it would have been April.

Then, those born from May 6 to June 5, 1960 will get their pension from when they’re aged 66 years and 2 months, which is July to August 2026. This is the second group of state pensioners affected by the changes.

Those born between June 6, 1960 and July 5, 1960, get their pension at 66 years 3 months, which is September to October 2026.

Those born between July 6, 1960 and August 5, 1960 get it at 66 years 4 months – which is November to December 2026.

And anyone born between August 6, 1960 and September 5, 1960 have to wait five months, until January 2027.

The state pension is paid for every four weeks, though usually paid in chunks of four payments at a time, so there are 21 possible weeks’ worth of payments that would have been paid between August 6, 2026 and January 2027 which people will miss out on while they wait for five more months to become eligible. That equates to £5,067.30 worth of DWP payments.

This is assuming a full National Insurance record and does not include any other benefits that could be claimed on top, such as Pension Credit or Attendance Allowance.

The government says about the phase-in in its guidance: “The Pensions Act 2014 brought the increase in the state pension age from 66 to 67 forward by eight years. The state pension age for men and women will now increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

“The government also changed the way in which the increase in the state pension is phased so that rather than reaching state pension age on a specific date, people born between April 6, 1960 and March 5, 1961 will reach their state pension age at 66 years and the specified number of months.”

Separately, the government also announced that the state pension age is being reviewed again, earlier than is mandatory. The last pension age review was completed in 2023 and is only required to be redone every six years.

But due to pressure on the public purse, the pension benefits age is being looked at again, sooner than planned. It means the next pension age increase to 68, due in the 2040s, could be brought forward depending on what the review concludes.