Money alert: Basic state pension set to climb by 2.5 per cent in April

The basic state pension will climb by 2.5 per cent in April, the Government confirmed yesterday. That means a single person will get an extra £2.85 a week, bringing their total to £115.95.

The pension is increasing at around twice the rate of inflation because of the "Triple Lock" policy, which commits the Government to whichever is the highest – 2.5 per cent, the rise in inflation, or the rise in average earnings.

Meanwhile, around 900,000 of the poorest pensioners will receive a further boost because the rise has also been applied to the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit. This means the guarantee will climb to £151.20 from April 2015.

However, Morten Nilsson of the provider NOW: Pensions warned pre-retirement savers that regular increases in the state pension shouldn't lull them into a false sense of security.

"Research we recently conducted with 100 cross-party MPs revealed that nearly one in six think the state pension will be extinct in 30 years' time – or, if there is one, that it will be at a considerably lower level."