The new State Pension

Printable version

1. Eligibility

You’ll be able to claim the new State Pension when you reach State Pension age if you’re:

  • a man born on or after 6 April 1951
  • a woman born on or after 6 April 1953

If you were born before, these rules do not apply. Instead, you’ll get the basic State Pension. You may also get Additional State Pension.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg) and easy read format.

Your National Insurance record

You’ll need 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any new State Pension.

A qualifying year is one in which you were:

You might also qualify if you’ve lived or worked abroad or paid reduced rate National Insurance for married women.

The qualifying years on your National Insurance record affect how much State Pension you get. Check your State Pension forecast to see what you might get when you reach State Pension age.

Your spouse or civil partner’s pension

Your new State Pension is usually based on your own National Insurance record. In some cases you might inherit State Pension or increase it through a spouse or civil partner.

2. What you'll get

Your State Pension amount depends on your National Insurance record.

Check your State Pension forecast to find out how much you could get when you reach State Pension age. It also shows your National Insurance record.

The full rate of new State Pension is £221.20 a week. Your amount could be different depending on:

Find out what tax you might pay on your retirement income.

If you’re getting less than £221.20 a week

You might need more National Insurance qualifying years to increase your State Pension.

If your National Insurance record started before April 2016

You may have been contracted out. While you were contracted out, you or your employer paid more into your workplace or private pension and less into your State Pension.

If you were contracted out, you will usually need more than 35 qualifying years to get the full rate of new State Pension.

If your National Insurance record started after April 2016

If your National Insurance record started after April 2016 you will need 35 qualifying years to get the full rate of new State Pension.

If you’re getting more than £221.20 a week

If you paid into the Additional State Pension before 2016 and would have got more State Pension under the old rules, you’ll get a ‘protected payment’. This is paid on top of the full rate of new State Pension.

Annual increases

The new State Pension increases each year by whichever is the highest:

  • earnings – the average percentage growth in wages (in Great Britain)
  • prices – the percentage growth in prices in the UK measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
  • 2.5%

If you have a protected payment, it increases each year in line with the CPI.

Further information

You can read ‘Your new State Pension explained’ for more detailed information about the new State Pension scheme.

3. How to claim

You will not get your new State Pension automatically - you have to claim it.

You’ll need:

  • the date of your most recent marriage, civil partnership or divorce
  • the dates of any time spent living or working abroad
  • your bank or building society details

If you’re applying online, you’ll also need the invitation code from the letter about getting your State Pension.

If you have not received an invitation letter but you are within 3 months of reaching your State Pension age, you can request an invitation code.

Apply now

How to claim is different if you claim from Northern Ireland or if you claim from abroad, including the Channel Islands.

Other ways to apply

Claim by phone

If you’ll reach State Pension age in the next 4 months, you can phone the Pension Service to claim.

Claim by post

You need to phone the Pension Service to get a State Pension claim form posted to you.

Send your completed form to:

Pension Service 8
Post Handling Site B
Wolverhampton
WV98 1AF

After you apply

You must tell the Pension Service if your circumstances change.

If you want to keep working

You can claim your new State Pension even if you carry on working. However, you can delay (defer) claiming your state pension to increase the amount you get.

Claiming an Isle of Man pension

If you’re eligible for a state pension from the Isle of Man, you’ll need to claim it separately from your UK new State Pension.

Find out if you’re eligible and how to claim your Isle of Man pension. You’ll get one payment for your UK pension and a separate payment for your Isle of Man pension.

You cannot defer an Isle of Man pension after 6 April 2016.

4. When you're paid

After you’ve claimed your State Pension you’ll get a letter about your payments.

The new State Pension is usually paid into your account every 4 weeks. If you want to change the account, tell the Pension Service.

There are different rules if you live abroad.

Your first payment

You’ll be asked when you want to start getting your State Pension when you claim. Your first payment will be no later than 5 weeks after the date you choose.

You’ll get a full payment every 4 weeks after that.

You might get part of a payment before your first full payment. The letter confirming your State Pension payment will tell you what to expect.

Your payment day

The day your pension is paid depends on your National Insurance number.

You might be paid earlier if your normal payment day is a bank holiday.

Last 2 digits of your National Insurance number Payment day of the week
00 to 19 Monday
20 to 39 Tuesday
40 to 59 Wednesday
60 to 79 Thursday
80 to 99 Friday

5. How to increase your retirement income

You can get advice from an independent financial adviser if you want more information on increasing your retirement income.

Adding onto your National Insurance record

Each qualifying year after 6 April 2016 added to your National Insurance record increases your State Pension amount, up to the full rate (£221.20 a week).

Get a State Pension forecast or check your State Pension award letter to see what you’ll get.

You might be able to add more National Insurance qualifying years by:

Years where you were contracted out count as qualifying years and are not gaps in your National Insurance record.

Workplace or personal pensions

You can pay into a workplace pension or personal pension.

Working after State Pension age

You can keep working after you reach State Pension age. If you do, you’ll stop paying National Insurance.

Delaying (deferring) your State Pension

Your State Pension will increase every week you delay (defer) claiming it, as long as you defer for at least 9 weeks.

For every year you delay claiming, your weekly payments increase by just under 5.8%.

You cannot build up this extra State Pension if you get certain benefits. Deferring can also affect how much you can get in benefits.

Other benefits if you’ve reached State Pension age

If you’re on a low income, you may be eligible to apply for Pension Credit, even if you’ve saved money for retirement.

If you have a disability and someone helps look after you, you may be eligible for Attendance Allowance.

You may be eligible for other benefits and financial support.

6. Inheriting or increasing State Pension from a spouse or civil partner

You might be able to inherit an extra payment on top of your new State Pension if you’re widowed.

You will not be able to inherit anything if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before you reach State Pension age.

Inheriting Additional State Pension

You might inherit part of your deceased partner’s Additional State Pension if your marriage or civil partnership with them began before 6 April 2016 and one of the following applies:

  • your partner reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
  • they died before 6 April 2016 but would have reached State Pension age on or after that date

It will be paid with your State Pension.

Inheriting a protected payment

You’ll inherit half of your partner’s protected payment if your marriage or civil partnership with them began before 6 April 2016 and:

  • they reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016
  • they died on or after 6 April 2016

It will be paid with your State Pension.

Inheriting extra State Pension or a lump sum

You may inherit part of or all of your partner’s extra State Pension or lump sum if:

  • they died while they were deferring their State Pension (before claiming) or they had started claiming it after deferring
  • they reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
  • you were married or in the civil partnership when they died

Your partner’s National Insurance record and your State Pension

The new State Pension is based on your own National Insurance record.

If you paid reduced rate National Insurance for married women, you might be able to increase your new State Pension if you’re eligible.

If you get divorced or dissolve your civil partnership

The courts can make a ‘pension sharing order’ if you get divorced or dissolve your civil partnership.

You’ll get an extra payment on top of your State Pension if your ex-partner is ordered to share their Additional State Pension or protected payment with you.

Your State Pension will be reduced if you’re ordered to share your Additional State Pension or protected payment with your partner.

7. Living and working overseas

If you live or work in another country, you might be able to contribute towards that country’s State Pension scheme.

If you’ve lived or worked in another country in the past, you might be eligible for that country’s state pension and a UK State Pension.

To check if you can pay into or receive another country’s state pension, contact the pension service for that country.

Claiming another country’s state pension

Depending on where you’ve lived or worked, you may need to make more than one pension claim.

European Economic Area (EEA) countries, Gibraltar and Switzerland

You only need to claim your state pension in the last country where you lived or worked. Your claim will cover all EEA countries, Gibraltar and Switzerland. You do not need to claim for each country separately.

Countries outside the EEA (except Switzerland)

You need to claim your pension from each country separately.

Check with the pension service for the country where you’ve lived or worked to find out how to make a claim.

Your UK State Pension if you’ve lived or worked abroad

Your UK State Pension will be based on your UK National Insurance record. You need 10 years of UK National Insurance contributions to be eligible for the new State Pension.

You may be able to use time spent abroad to make up the 10 qualifying years. This is most likely if you’ve lived or worked in:

Example

You have 7 qualifying years from the UK on your National Insurance record when you reach State Pension age.

You worked in an EEA country for 16 years and paid contributions to that country’s state pension.

You will meet the minimum qualifying years to get the new State Pension because of the time you worked overseas. Your new State Pension amount will only be based on the 7 years of National Insurance contributions you made in the UK.

You want to retire overseas

You can claim the new State Pension overseas in most countries.

Your State Pension will increase each year but only if you live in:

Your new State Pension may be affected if your circumstances change. You can get more information from the International Pension Centre.