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Your State Pension
When you reach State Pension age, the Government will provide you with your State Pension. The actual amount you receive is determined by various factors such as the National Insurance contributions that you made throughout your working life. If you have gaps in your contributions, it can be possible to fill in missing years.
Your State Pension age depends on when you were born. Please visit the it the gov.uk state pension age calculator to check your state pension age.
If you reached state pension age before 6 April 2016, the maximum you can receive, also known as the full basic State Pension, is £129.20 per week. Where you don't qualify for a full State Pension you can expect to receive part of the total amount (sometimes called a proportional amount). You can check how much you would qualify for here at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension .
Changes to the State Pension
The new flat rate State Pension replaced the basic State Pension and the Additional State Pension from 6 April 2016.
The new State Pension was introduced for individuals reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. The full amount of the new State Pension is currently £168.60 per week. If you entered the National Insurance (NI) system on or after 6 April 2016 you will be required to have 35 qualifying years of contracted-in NI contributions or credits to get the full amount. If you don't have the full 35 years, you will get a pro-rata amount provided you meet the new 10 year minimum qualifying period.
There are transitional provisions for those who have built up qualifying years or credits prior to 6 April 2016, to ensure that you will not receive a lower pension amount than you would have received under the previous system rules, so long as you meet the new 10 year minimum qualifying period.
The Government will also raise the State Pension age in the future. It's expected that from October 2020, both men and women's state pension age will increase to 66, then increase further to 67 by 2028 with the next increase to 68 to take place between 2037 and 2039. Furthermore on top of these age thresholds the government will review matters every five years regardless of these changes.
And while it used to be possible for your State Pension to be passed on to your spouse after your death, this is no longer possible with the new flat rate State Pension.
Tell me more about the new state pension -
If you have reached state pension age on or after 6th April 2016, you will receive the new state pension. You'll usually need at least 10 qualifying years to receive the state pension, and 35 years of National Insurance contributions overall to potentially receive the full amount, currently £168.60 per week.
A qualifying year is one that counts for state pension entitlement. This is achieved where national insurance has been paid or credited against an individual's record. For further details See www.gov.uk/state-pension/eligibility.
The amount you ultimately receive will depend on a number of factors, including National Insurance contributions, and whether you have "contracted out" at any point in the past. You may also have to pay tax on your state pension.
Find out more about your eligibility.
Find out how much state pension you can receive and when -
Visit the www.gov.uk website to find out:
How many qualifying years you may have to date
Details of how much state pension those qualifying years may give you
The earliest date you may get your state pension
Alternatively, you can contact the Future Pension Centre by phone
Or write to:
The Pension Service 9
Mail Handling Site A
WV98 1LU
How can I top up my state pension? -
To find out if you can top up your state pension, please visit the www.gov.uk website.
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