The Department for Work and Pensions has made the State Pension Revaluation for Transitional Pensions Order 2025 (SI 2025/1219), setting the revaluing percentage for protected payments at 39.0%. The instrument was made on 25 November 2025 and laid before Parliament on 27 November 2025, following the statutory review of price growth under the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
Commencement is staged. For advance awards on claims made under regulation 15(1) of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987, the Order takes effect on 22 December 2025 for people reaching pensionable age on or after 7 April 2026; for all other purposes it applies from 6 April 2026. The territorial extent is England, Wales and Scotland.
The 39% figure is the measured increase in the general level of prices since 6 April 2016, as required by section 148AC of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 for transitional pensions under the Pensions Act 2014. In practice, this percentage is the uplift applied to the protected payment component of the new State Pension at award.
Protected payment refers to the portion of an individual’s notional entitlement calculated at 6 April 2016 that exceeded the full new State Pension at that date; it arises from pre‑2016 contribution histories and is carried into the post‑2016 system as a separate amount. The explanatory note to the Order restates this definition and its legislative basis in the Pensions Act 2014.
This revaluation is distinct from the annual uprating of the main State Pension by the triple lock. Government statements confirm that protected payments are price‑linked rather than triple‑lock‑linked; once in payment they are uprated by CPI, not earnings or 2.5%.
For illustration only: a protected payment calculated at £10.00 a week as at 6 April 2016 would be revalued to £13.90 at award for someone reaching pensionable age on or after 7 April 2026 under this Order, before any rounding. By contrast, those reaching pensionable age before that date were covered by the 2024 Order, which set the revaluing percentage at 33.9%.
Operationally, administrators should ensure calculation tools, award letters and case management systems apply the 39% revaluation to protected payments at the point of award for cohorts attaining pensionable age from 7 April 2026. Advance claims can be processed from 22 December 2025 under regulation 15(1), with awards reflecting the revalued amount.
For individuals, the measure only affects those who have a protected payment within their transitional new State Pension record; it does not change the full rate of the new State Pension or other elements. After award, any protected payment in payment is uprated by CPI each April under established practice.
The Order extends to Great Britain only. Northern Ireland legislates separately for equivalent matters; for example, in 2024 the Department for Communities made a corresponding order setting a 33.9% revaluing percentage.
The instrument is made under sections 148AC(3) and 189 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992. It records that prices increased over the review period and is signed by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Torsten Bell. No full impact assessment is provided, with the department stating no significant impact is foreseen.
Related but separate secondary legislation made on the same date revalues state pension debits and credits arising from pension sharing on divorce, with its own schedule of percentage increases by tax year. Administrators should avoid conflating that instrument (SI 2025/1220) with this protected payment revaluation.