Understanding the basic State Pension

The basic State Pension is a pension paid to you by the government when you reach State Pension age. It is based on the number of qualifying years gained through National Insurance contributions (NICs) you've paid, are treated as having paid or have been credited with throughout your working life.

Do you qualify for the basic State Pension?

If you are entitled, you can get the basic State Pension when you reach State Pension age. Today, the State Pension age for men is 65, but this will rise in the future. From 6 April 2010 women’s State Pension age started to increase gradually from age 60 to 65 so that by 2020 it will be the same as men’s State Pension age. This change will affect all women born on or after 6 April 1950.

For instance:

women born on or after 6 April 1950 but before 6 April 1955 will have a State Pension age between 60 years and one month and 64 years and 11 months and
women born on or after 6 April 1955 but before 6 April 1959 will have a State Pension age of 65.

As a result of the Pensions Act (NI) 2008 the State Pension age for both men and women will increase further from 65 to 68 between 2024 and 2046.

You qualify by building up enough 'qualifying years' before State Pension age.

What are qualifying years?

A qualifying year is a tax year where you have sufficient income to pay National Insurance Contributions or are treated as having paid, or being credited with, National Insurance Contributions.

In 2010-2011, you need to have £5,044 or more of such earnings if you are an employee or £5,075 or more if you are self-employed.

To qualify for some basic State Pension a person who reaches State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010, needs just one qualifying year in their working life.

From 6 April 2010 there will be a reduction in the number of qualifying years required for a full basic State Pension. If you reached State Pension age on or after this date, the number of qualifying years required for a full basic State Pension will be 30.

How many qualifying years do you need?

From 6 April 2010, the number of qualifying years needed for a full basic State pension was reduced from 39 for women and 44 for men to 30 for both men and women. For people reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010, the two existing contribution conditions will be replaced by a new single contribution condition.

The new condition is that in your working life, you must have paid or be treated as having paid, or have been credited with enough Class 1, 2 or 3 contributions to achieve 30 qualifying years. If the condition is not met in full, entitlement will be 1/30th of the full basic State Pension for each qualifying year achieved with entitlement being expressed as a fraction between 1/30th and 30/30ths, depending on the number of qualifying years.

If you have more than 30 qualifying years, entitlement will be restricted to 30/30ths.

To find out more about the State Pension, you can download the leaflet 'State pensions– your guide' from The Pension Service website.

If you've been a parent or carer

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 you may be able to get National Insurance credits. These credits allow you to build entitlement to the State Pension. You may be eligible for Carer's credits if you are:

a parent with a dependent child under 12 years of age
an approved foster carer
caring for at least 20 hours per week for one or more severely disabled people

Up until 5 April 2010 if you hadn't paid enough NICs because you were looking after children or caring for someone long-term, you may have been eligible for Home Responsibilities Protection. Home Responsibilities Protection was replaced with Carer's Credit from 6 April 2010. Years of Home Responsibilities Protection built up before 6 April 2010 will count as qualifying years of Carer's Credit.

If you've been claiming benefit

If you've been receiving certain benefits, such as Carer's Allowance, Jobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance – ‘contribution’ based (if you have paid enough National Insurance contributions), you'll have automatically received National Insurance credits for the weeks when you've been claiming.

How much is the basic State Pension?

In 2010-2011, the full basic State Pension is £97.65 a week for a single person and £156.15 a week for a couple, but your individual circumstances may affect the amount you get.

If you don't qualify for the full basic State Pension

If you reach State Pension age before 6 April 2010

If you don't qualify for the full basic State Pension, but have 25 per cent or more of the qualifying years, you'll get a weekly basic State Pension between the minimum (£24.41 in 2010-2011) and the maximum (£97.65 in 2010-2011).

If you have fewer than 25 per cent of the qualifying years, you're not normally entitled to receive any basic State Pension. However, you can get a 'non-contributory' or 'Over 80 Pension' if you're aged 80 or more and meet the residency conditions. This is £58.50 a week for 2010-2011.

If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010

If you don’t qualify for the full basic State Pension, but have some qualifying years, you will get one thirtieth of the full amount for each qualifying year.

You can get more information from your pensions service.

If you are or have been married or in a civil partnership you may be entitled to some basic State Pension through the National Insurance record of either:

your spouse or civil partner
your former or late spouse or civil partner

Pension Credit

If you're a pensioner and living in Northern Ireland, Pension Credit could top up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum of:

£132.60 if you're single
£202.40 if you're a couple

The age from which you can get Pension Credit is gradually increasing from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and 2020.

Understanding Pension Credit

Claiming your State Pension

The Pension Service should automatically send you a letter on how to claim your State Pension four months before you reach State Pension age.

If you haven't received this letter three months before your birthday, you can:

phone the Pension Service to make a claim
download the claim form from the DSD website, print it out, then complete and send it to the Pension Service
if you have speech or hearing difficulties, a textphone service is available
Pension Service Claim Line
Contact information for Pension Service
Download State Pension claim form
Help with PDF files

How the State Pension is paid

Direct Payment into an account is the Social Security Agency’s normal way of paying pensions and benefits. It is a safe, convenient and efficient method of payment

Nominating a helper to collect benefits or a pension for you

Putting off claiming your State Pension until later

You don't have to claim your State Pension as soon as you reach State Pension age. If you wish, you can put off claiming it and get a higher weekly amount or the option of a one-off taxable lump sum payment instead.

If you are thinking about deferring your State Pension you need to consider how the changes to State Pensions from April 2010 may affect your decision.

State Pension deferral

What to do if your circumstances change

You should tell The Pension Service if:

you go into or come out of hospital
you go abroad to live or for a long visit
you go into a care home
Contact information for Pension Service
Going Abroad - State Retirement Pension

Understanding the basic State Pension