State Pensioners Under 73 to Receive Extra £923 on Top of DWP Payment in May

State pensioners who retired before April 2016 may be eligible to receive an additional payment of up to £923 in May, added on top of their regular Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pension. This extra amount comes from the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), also known as the ‘additional state pension,’ which was in operation between 1978 and 2002.

SERPS was replaced by the State Second Pension, which continued until 2016. If you paid into SERPS during your working life and retired before April 2016, you could qualify for a higher state pension. However, some individuals chose to “contract out” of SERPS by redirecting their National Insurance contributions into a private workplace pension scheme instead.

For the 2026/27 tax year, the maximum additional state pension payable is £230.54 per week. Over the course of a month, this amounts to approximately £923, which could be added to your standard basic state pension rate of £801.

The basic state pension generally applies to those aged 73 and over, as individuals born in 1953 and later receive the updated pension rates.

Eligibility for SERPS required being employed and paying Class 1 National Insurance contributions, meaning it did not extend to the self-employed. If you were part of a personal or company pension scheme, you were likely contracted out of SERPS, paying lower National Insurance contributions while your employer invested the savings into what was called a ‘protected rights pension.’

Contracting out was intended to give you a better retirement income by building a larger private pension pot instead of relying on SERPS benefits. Some pension schemes automatically contracted employees out without requiring a decision, so many workers remain unaware if they hold a protected rights pension.

It is important to note that since 2012, protected rights pensions have been consolidated into general pension pots and no longer carry a separate status.