Understanding and qualifying for new State Pension

This information is for a man born on or after 6 April 1951 or a woman born on or after 6 April 1953

May Day benefit payments

If your payment is due on Monday 2 May, you will still be paid by that date.

All benefits run on different payment systems but you will not receive your payment later than the day it would normally be due.

Eligibility

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

• A man born on or after 6 April 1951
• A woman born on or after 6 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 April 2016, you will get the State Pension under the old rules instead. You can find out more about this at the link below:

• State Pension before 6 April 2016

Claiming new State Pension

The earliest you can claim new State Pension is when you reach State Pension age. Use the online calculator to check when you'll reach State Pension age:

• Check your State Pension age
• Claiming State Pension

Your National Insurance Record

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

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

• you worked 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
• Your National Insurance record and new State Pension

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

• Living or working overseas and new State Pension

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

Working after State Pension Age

You don’t 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.

How much you can get

The full new State Pension is £185.15 per week. You can find out how much State Pension you can get by visiting GOV.UK:

• The new State Pension - How it's calculated (GOV.UK website)

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 defer taking your State Pension

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.

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

• Check your State Pension
• Check your National Insurance record 
• New State pension - how it's calculated 
• Changes to contracting out from 6 April 2016

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

Your National Insurance record before 6 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.

Starting amount is less than full new State Pension

You can get more State Pension by adding more qualifying years to your National Insurance record after 5 April 2016. You can add qualifying years 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 April 2016 will add about £5.29 a week to your new State Pension.  The exact amount you get is calculated by dividing £185.15 by 35 and then multiplying by the number of qualifying years after 5 April 2016.

Example

You had a starting amount from your National Insurance record before 6 April 2016 of £120 a week.

You have another 6 qualifying years on your National Insurance record after 5 April 2016 (each year adding about £5.29 a week to your State Pension) equalling £31.74 a week.

This adds up to about £151.74 a week for your State Pension. This figure may change as the starting amount is adjusted to account for inflation.

Your starting amount is more than 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 April 2016 won’t add more to your State Pension.

Find out more information on National Insurance contributions on the following nidirect page:

• Your National Insurance record and new State Pension

No National Insurance contributions or credits before 6 April 2016

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

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

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

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

Example

You have 20 qualifying years on your National Insurance record after 6 April 2016.

You divide £185.15 by 35 and then multiply by 20.

Your new State Pension will be about £105.80 per week.

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 (in Great Britain)
• prices – the percentage growth in prices in the UK as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 3.1 per cent

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

How it's paid

After you’ve made a claim you will 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 (that is for the last 4 weeks, not the coming 4 weeks).

There are different rules if you live abroad.

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.

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.

Get a State Pension forecast

A State Pension forecast will tell you how much new State Pension you may receive.

• Check your State Pension