
State Pension
How much do you get and can you boost it?
The state pension saw a big change in 2016, affecting people retiring since then. While the Government's aim has been to make the system fairer for all and easier to understand, it can still be a minefield – and some people have lost out from the overhaul.
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What is the state pension and when will I get it?
A 'flat-rate' state pension was ushered in on 6 April 2016. While the overhaul was designed to make the system easier to understand, it's still far from simple.
The flat-rate state pension only applies to those reaching state pension age on or after 6 April 2016. This means millions of older people aren't affected by it and have simply carried on receiving their state pension under the previous system (for more info on this see below).
When will the state pension be paid to me?
As with the previous system, you receive the state pension when you reach the Government's official retirement age. What that is depends on when you were born.
To cut costs, the official retirement age is gradually being raised. It has increased to 66 for men and women since April 2020, then it will rise to 67 by 2029, with a further rise to 68 due between 2037 and 2039.
The rising pension age for women has triggered much controversy – previously it was just 60. Campaign group WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality – has fought against the pace of change in women's state pension age, but lost a legal fight against the government.
To find your exact retirement age, see the Government's State Pension Age Calculator.
State pension age for men and women
TABLE_CELL_STYLE | BORN | OFFICIAL RETIREMENT AGE |
Men | Before 6 December 1953 | 65 |
On or after 6 December 1953 | 66 | |
Women | Before 6 April 1950 | 60 |
On or after 6 April 1950 | 66 |
Quick question
How much state pension will I get?

What you get depends on how many so-called 'qualifying years' of national insurance (NI) contributions you have. These are earned over your lifetime and how many you get generally depends on how many years you're in work.
You can also build them up as NI credits for time spent raising a family, if you care for someone who is sick or has a disability, or have been enrolled in full-time training.
You can get an estimate of your state pension based on your current NI record by going online. But bear in mind this is only an estimate and what you actually receive when you retire may be different, especially if the pension system changes again in future.
Here's what you need...

What are qualifying NI years – and how do I find out how many I've got?
For a qualifying year, you generally need to earn a minimum amount of money during a tax year (6 April to 5 April) and pay the required NI contributions. For 2020/21 these minimums are...
For employees: £120/week, £520/month, £6,240/year
If you work full-time, even on the minimum wage or just a few days a week throughout the year, you are likely to earn a qualifying year. And, to reiterate, these qualifying years can be from before or after 6 April 2016 and don't have to be consecutive – they can be dotted about over a much longer period.
Remember too that you'll need at least 10 qualifying years to be eligible for any payout at all.
Warning: More than 200,000 stay-at-home parents or carers of under-12s risk losing some of their state pension because it's their earning partner who's registered for child benefit. Even if your partner's bringing in £50,000 or more a year, the threshold where child benefit starts to reduce on a sliding scale, the non-earner is still entitled to NI credits – so make sure the right person is registered. You can also transfer NI credits from from one partner to another to boost your state pension.

Quick questions
Why 'contracting out' will cut your state pension payout

Not everyone is eligible for the full flat-rate sum. This mainly affects people who won't have enough qualifying NI years because they've been 'contracted out' of the state pension in the past.
Contracting out isn't simple...
Under the previous system, the state pension was made up of two parts:
- The basic state pension, and
- Additional state pension, sometimes referred to as state second pension or SERPS (State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme).
If you are or were in a defined benefit company pension scheme – where the amount you're paid in retirement is a set proportion of your final salary – you're likely to have been 'contracted out' of the additional state pension.
In a nutshell, it meant workers paid a lower rate of NI contributions. This was because – in return – they would have paid this extra cash into their workplace scheme, or had it paid in for them by their employer. Millions of workers with company pensions in the public and private sectors are affected. Many individuals also contracted out through personal pensions.
You need 35 FULL years to qualify for a £175.20 pension...
This means you won't get £175.20 despite having what you thought were 35 years of NI contributions. What counts is 35 years of full contributions – not ones where you paid a lower NI rate.
To this end, the Government will deduct a sum from your new state pension. It says that although you'll get less than the full £175.20, retirees will still be paid what they would have got under the old state pension.
The sum is what the Government has coined your 'contracted out pension equivalent' (COPE) amount. If you ask for a state pension statement from the Government it will include this amount.
However, while many people will get a private pension boost which offsets this deduction, it could be less than the state pension they gave up – much depends on the pension scheme and investment performance. To make matters worse, many workers won't even have realised they were contracted out, so will learn of their lower pension as a shock.
Quick questions
How can I boost my state pension?

There are ways you can boost your state pension, however each option needs to be considered carefully.
Defer your state pension
You can put off claiming – 'defer' – your basic state pension. This can be useful if you're still working, as it means you could get larger pension payments later. Unless you claim your pension, it will automatically be deferred.
Buy 'extra' pension years
If you've got spare savings and can afford to be without the cash in the short term, it's also possible to replace some missing NI qualifying years.
This could lead to a big increase in your basic state pension payout over your retirement.
In a nutshell, you pay a one-off lump sum to buy a higher state pension sum. Assuming you live long enough, the extra cash you earn from a bigger weekly state pension could be worth £1,000s over a lifetime.
Quick questions
Retired pre-April 2016? Here's what you need to know

If you're a man born on or before 5 April 1951, or a woman born on or before 5 April 1953 and have 30 'qualifying years' on your national insurance record, you'll be receiving the full £134.25 a week (2020/21) under the previous state pension.
If you're a married woman but don't have the full number of qualifying years and your husband also retired before April 2016 and he receives the full basic state pension, you should be eligible for the married women's rate of at least £80.45 a week (60% of the full amount).
Important. Hundreds of thousands of married women who hit state pension age before April 2016 could be missing out on £1,000s of extra state pension – and now can claim more. That's because if their basic state pension is less than 60% of their husband's, they are due a top-up to that amount. But many didn't get it due to a computer glitch, or because they didn't know they had to claim.
This can be a substantial amount of money. For example, a woman who reached state pension age in 2010 and who currently gets £55 a week as a basic state pension could be entitled to an extra £1,300 a year if her husband gets the full basic state pension, plus around £5,000 backdated as a lump sum if he retired in 2015. For more on who could be missing out, see our MSE News story.

More info on how the previous state pension worked...
State pension Q&A

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