gov.uk

Eligibility

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

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

The earliest you can get the new State Pension is when you reach State Pension age.

If you reached State Pension age before 6^th April 2016, you’ll get the State Pension under the old rules instead.

Your National Insurance record

You’ll usually need at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any State Pension. They do not have to be 10 qualifying years in a row.

This means for 10 years at least one or more of the following applied to you:

• you were working and paid National Insurance contributions
• you were getting National Insurance credits for example if you were unemployed, ill or a parent or carer
• you were paying voluntary National Insurance contributions

If you’ve lived or worked abroad, you might still be able to get some new State Pension.

You might also qualify if you’ve paid married women’s or widow’s reduced rate contributions.

Working after State Pension age

You do not have to stop working when you reach State Pension age, but you’ll no longer have to pay National Insurance. You can also request flexible working arrangements.

What you’ll get

The full new State Pension is £179.60 per week.

The actual amount you get depends on your National Insurance record.

The only reasons the amount can be higher are if:

• you have over a certain amount of Additional State Pension
• you delay taking your State Pension

You can get a State Pension forecast to find out how much you could get and when.

You can still get a State Pension if you have other income like a personal pension or a workplace pension.

You might have to pay tax on your State Pension.

If you’ve reached State Pension age and you’re on a low income, you may also qualify for Pension Credit, even if you’ve saved money for retirement.

How it’s paid

After you’ve made a claim, you’ll get a letter about your payments.

The new State Pension is usually paid every 4 weeks into an account of your choice. You’re paid in arrears (for the last 4 weeks, not the coming 4 weeks).

There are different rules if you live abroad.

Your first payment

Your first payment will be within 5 weeks of reaching State Pension age. 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 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 NI 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

How to claim

You will not get your new State Pension automatically – you must claim it. You should get a letter no later than 2 months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do.

If you have not received an invitation letter, but you are within 4 months of reaching your State Pension age you can still make a claim.

The quickest way to get your State Pension is to apply online.

How to claim is different if you claim from Northern Ireland.

Other ways to apply

You can also 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

There’s a different way to claim your pension from abroad, including the Channel Islands.

If you want to keep working

You can claim your new State Pension even if you carry on working. However, you have the option to defer which can 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.

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^th April 2016.

How it’s calculated

The full new State Pension is £179.60 per week. What you’ll receive is based on your National Insurance record.

Valuing your National Insurance contributions and credits made before 6^th April 2016

Your National Insurance record before 6^th April 2016 is used to calculate your ‘starting amount’. This is part of your new State Pension.

Your starting amount will be the higher of either:

• the amount you would get under the old State Pension rules (which includes basic State Pension and Additional State Pension)
• the amount you would get if the new State Pension had been in place at the start of your working life

Your starting amount will include a deduction if you were contracted out of the Additional State Pension. You may have been contracted out because you were in a certain type of workplace, personal or stakeholder pension.

If your starting amount is less than the full new State Pension

You can get more State Pension by adding more qualifying years to your National Insurance record after 5^th April 2016. You can do this until you reach the full new State Pension amount or reach State Pension age – whichever is first.

Each qualifying year on your National Insurance record after 5^th April 2016 will add about £5.13 a week to your new State Pension. The exact amount you get is calculated by diving £179.60 by 35 and then multiplying by the number of qualifying years after 5^th April 2016.

If your starting amount is more than the full new State Pension

The part of your starting amount which is above the full new State Pension is called your ‘protected payment’. This is paid on top of the full new State Pension.

Any qualifying years you have after 5^th April 2016 will not add more to your State Pension.

You did not make National Insurance contributions or get National Insurance credits before 6^th April 2016

Your State Pension will be calculated entirely under the new State Pension rules.

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

You’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension.

You’ll get a proportion of the new State Pension if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years.

Your new State Pension is more likely to be calculated in this way if you were born after the year 2000 or became a resident of the UK after 2015.

Annual increases

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

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

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

Get a State Pension forecast

You can get a State Pension forecast to find out how much new State Pension you may get.

You’ve been in a workplace, personal or stakeholder pension

Your starting amount may include a deduction if you were in certain:

• earnings-related pension schemes at work before 6^th April 2016
• workplace, personal or stakeholder pensions before 6^th April 2012

You may have paid lower National Insurance contributions and paid into one of these pensions instead. This is known as being ‘contracted out’ of the Additional State Pension and will affect most people who have been in work.

You can check with your pension provide if you’ve been contracted out in the past. The Pension Tracing Service might be able to find your pension providers’ contact details if you’ve lost contact with them.

Changes to contracting out from 6^th April 2016

On 6^th April 2016 these rules changed so that if you were contracted out:

• you’ll no longer be contracted out
• you’ll pay more National Insurance

Check if you were contracted out

Check your old payslips. You were contracted out if the National Insurance contributions lines has the letter D or N next to it. You were not contracted out if it has a letter A.

If there’s a different letter, check with your employer or pension provider.

You’re more likely to have been contracted out if you worked in the public sector, for example:

• the NHS
• local councils
• fire services
• the civil service
• teaching
• police forces
• the armed forces

You paid National Insurance at a lower rate if you were contracted out.

Your National Insurance record and your State Pension

Your new State Pension is based on your National Insurance record when you reach State Pension age.

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

You may get less than the new full State Pension if you were contracted out before 6^th April 2016.

You may get more than the new full State Pension if you would have had over a certain amount of Additional State Pension under the old rules.

You’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the new full State Pension if you do not have a National Insurance record before 6^th April 2016.

Qualifying years if you’re working

When you’re working you pay National Insurance and get a qualifying year if:

• you’re employed and earning over £184 a week from one employer
• you’re self-employed and paying National Insurance contributions

You might not pay National Insurance contributions because you’re earning less than £184 a week. You may still get a qualifying year if you earn between £120 and £184 a week from one employer.

Qualifying years if you’re not working

You may get National Insurance credits if you cannot work – for example because of illness or disability, or if you’re a carer or you’re unemployed.

For example, you can get National Insurance credits if you:

• claim Child Benefit for a child under 12
• get Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance
• get Carer’s Allowance

You’re not working or getting National Insurance credits

You might be able to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions if you’re not in one of these groups but want to increase your State Pension amount.

Gaps in your National Insurance record

You can have gaps in your National Insurance record and still get the full new State Pension.

You can get a State Pension forecast which will tell you how much State Pension you may get. You can then apply for a National Insurance statement from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to check if your record has gaps.

If you have gaps in your National Insurance record that would prevent you from getting the full new State Pension, you may be able to:

• get National Insurance credits
• make voluntary National Insurance contributions

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 Addition State Pension if your marriage or civil partnership with them began before 6^th April 2016 and one of the following applies:

• your partner reached State Pension age before 6^th April 2016
• they died before 6^th 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^th April 2016 and:

• their State Pension age is on or after 6^th April 2016
• they died on or after 6^th 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 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^th 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 married women’s or widows’ reduced rate National Insurance, 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.

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 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:

• the EEA
• Switzerland
• Gibraltar
• certain countries that have a social security agreement with 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:

• the EEA
• Gibraltar
• Switzerland
• certain countries that have a social security agreement with the UK

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