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Help if you have little or no pension

By planning ahead you can make sure you have enough pension when you retire. If you do end up with little or no pension, you may be able to get Pension Credit and may be entitled to a non-contributory State Pension if you are over 80.

Will you get any State Pension?

You qualify for the State Pension by building up enough ‘qualifying years’. A qualifying year is a tax year in which you have sufficient earnings upon which you have paid, or are treated as having paid, or are credited with National Insurance contributions.

If you have built up enough qualifying years, you get a full basic State Pension. The number of qualifying years you need for full basic State Pension depends on your age and whether you are a man or a woman.

  • men born before 6 April 1945 usually need 44 qualifying years
  • women born before 6 April 1950 usually need 39 qualifying years
  • men born on or after 6 April 1945 need 30 qualifying years
  • women born on or after 6 April 1950 need 30 qualifying years

If you don't have enough qualifying years, you may be entitled to a smaller State Pension. If you have 25 per cent or more qualifying years, you'll get a weekly basic State Pension up to the maximum £102.15 in 2011-2012.

If you have fewer than 30 qualifying years, you will get a proportion of the full State Pension. For example, if you have seven qualifying years, you will get a State Pension that is 7/30ths of the full State Pension.

If you're within four months of State Pension age, you should have received an invitation to claim through the post. If you haven't, get in touch with The Pension Service, Windsor House straight away.

You can call The Pension Service on 0808 100 2658 (lines are open 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday).

Topping up your State Pension

If you have tax years which don’t count as qualifying years, you may be able to boost your basic State Pension by paying voluntary National Insurance contributions for those years.

An example of a tax year that doesn’t count as a qualifying year, is one in which you didn’t pay enough National Insurance contributions.

You can usually pay voluntary National Insurance contributions to fill gaps in the last six years. Some people may also be able to pay for more years. You may be able to pay for some years even if you are already over State Pension age.

A State Pension forecast can tell you if paying voluntary National Insurance contributions will improve your State Pension.

If you’ve missed paying National Insurance contributions because you were caring for a child, a sick person or a person with disabilities, you should have been automatically credited with contributions for those years.

If you're a married woman, you may qualify for a basic State Pension based on your husband's National Insurance contributions.

Buying additional National Insurance contributions

If you reach State Pension age between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2015 and already have 20 qualifying years you may be able to pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions for up to six additional years. These six years date from 6 April 1975 and cover years that do not currently count towards the basic State Pension.

Married women cannot pay voluntary contributions if they had a married woman’s reduced rate election for the whole of the tax year in question.

State Pension for married people and civil partners

If you're married or in a civil partnership, you may qualify for a basic State Pension. This is based on your husband's, wife’s or civil partner’s National Insurance contributions. You can find out more by reading the following page.

Pension Credit

If you're a pensioner and living in Northern Ireland, you may qualify for Pension Credit.

Pension Credit is an income-related benefit for people of State Pension age or over living in the UK that provides, or contributes to, a guaranteed level of income of £137.35 per week for a single person (£209.70 for a couple). These amounts may be more for people who have caring responsibilities, are severely disabled or have certain housing costs.

The age from which you can get Pension Credit Guarantee Credit is gradually increasing from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and 2020. To find out the age when you may be able to apply for Pension Credit, you should use the State Pension age calculator.

The State Pension age for both men and women will rise in the future. The government has announced new proposals for increasing State Pension age. From December 2018 the State Pension age for both men and women will start to increase to reach 66 by April 2020. This will mean women’s State Pension age will increase more quickly to 65 between April 2016 and November 2018. Any change to the timetable would need the approval of Parliament. The government is also considering the timetable for future increases to the State Pension age from 66 to 68.

Changes to the State Pension age are likely to affect the Pension Credit qualifying age.

People aged 65 and over can also be rewarded for some of their savings and income they have for their retirement.

State Pension if you're aged 80 or over

If you don't have enough qualifying years to get the basic State Pension, you may get a 'non-contributory' State Pension if you're aged 80 or over. This is set at about 60 per cent of the full basic State Pension.  In 2011 - 2012 this is £61.20 a week.

You can claim if:

  • you're aged 80 or over
  • you don't get basic State Pension, or your basic State Pension is less than £61.20 a week (in 2011-2012)
  • you live in the UK and have done so for 10 years or more in any continuous period of 20 years after your 60th birthday

You'll receive:

  • £61.20 a week if you don't get basic State Pension
  • if you're on a reduced basic State Pension– you'll get the difference between this reduced amount and £61.20
  • The Over 80 Pension  

Other retirement benefits

There are other retirement benefits to which you may be entitled. Some are available to all people over certain ages and some only to those who need them.

More useful links

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