State Pension

You earn qualifying National Insurance (NI) years over your lifetime, either by working and paying NI contributions, or by qualifying for NI credits.

• If you're in work, to earn a qualifying year, you generally need to earn a minimum amount of money during a tax year, and pay the required NI contributions. For 2025/26 these minimums were:
  

  - For employees: £123 a week, £533 a month, £6,500 a year

  - For the self-employed: £129 a week, £560 a month, £6,845 a year

  So, 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 these qualifying years don't have to be consecutive.

• If you're not earning enough to pay NI – for example if you're claiming benefits because you're ill or unemployed – you may be able to get NI credits to fill gaps in your record. For instance, you can build up NI credits for time spent raising a family, if you care for someone who is sick or disabled, or if you've been enrolled in full-time training.

  Sometimes these credits are awarded automatically and sometimes you need to apply. You can check if you qualify for credits, but you need to wait until a tax year ends on 5 April before you can apply for credits for the previous 12 months.

Again, check how many qualifying years you have by visiting the Gov.uk website, or phone the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500 – or see other more accessible contact methods.

You might not get the full State Pension for one of three main reasons:

• You were contracted out. You may not qualify for the full flat-rate sum because you were 'contracted out' of the State Pension in the past.
  
  Contracting out was a government initiative which began in 1978 and finally ended on 6 April 2016, when the new flat-rate system was introduced. It allowed people who were paying into a workplace or private pension to pay less National Insurance towards their additional State Pension in exchange for getting a higher private pension.
  
  You're likely to have been contracted out of the additional State Pension if you are or were in a Salary Scheme pension (also known as a defined benefit) scheme, or you were in some other types of workplace pension scheme before 6 April 2012. To find out more, see the Gov.uk website.

• You're a stay-at-home parent. More than 200,000 stay-at-home parents or carers of under-12s risk losing some 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 one partner to another to boost your State Pension.
  

• You're a women who reached State Pension age before April 2016. Tens of thousands of women are likely to have been underpaid the State Pension, and many could be due £1,000s – some even £10,000s. Married women who reached State Pension age before April 2016, plus widows, divorcees and the over-80s – whether married or not – should check. See our dedicated guide on this for more.

The State Pension is paid into your bank account every four weeks. If you want to request a change to this frequency, you can call 0800 731 0469.

It's worth noting that if you look up your State Pension forecast on the Government website, it will give you a monthly amount but your actual State Pension will be paid every four weeks. So don't be concerned if there's a difference between the two numbers.

Instead of a flat-rate payout like the new £230.25 a week (2025/26) State Pension, the previous State Pension is made up of two parts.

The first element is the so-called 'basic' State Pension.

This is simply worked out by totting up the number of eligible NI years you have.

These qualifying years are earned by working and paying NI contributions in a given year, if you're a carer, or if you're on certain benefits.

The most you can currently earn from a basic State Pension is £176.45 a week (2025/26), a maximum level that rises every April by the biggest of the following:

• Inflation in the previous September (as measured by the Consumer Prices Index)

• The increase in average earnings

• 2.5%

This is known as the 'triple lock' – a device to ensure older generations get the best deal possible.

The second element is known as the additional State Pension.

This extra payout is called SERPS (State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme), S2P or the state second pension.

Like the basic State Pension element, it is based on your NI contributions.

How much you get largely depends on what your salary was throughout your career and, to a lesser extent, whether you've claimed certain benefits such as Child Benefit or Carer's Credit.

You get the additional State Pension paid automatically with your basic State Pension and it increases every year with inflation.

The Government said the previous State Pension was hard to understand and unfairly biased against many – notably women – who took time off work to care for others or raise a family.

Problems lie in the previous system being made up of two parts: a 'basic' State Pension (worked out according to your number of National Insurance years) and a 'state second pension', also known as S2P, SERPS or the additional rate.

While the first part was simple enough, the latter caused problems with its complexity – particularly when workers opted out of it (knowingly or otherwise) in a process called 'contracting out'.

The new payout was designed to make the whole process easier to understand, though it's still far from simple.

The new set-up is also a huge boost for the self-employed who lost out hugely under the previous system since they were unable to build up any second State Pension.

No. Having more than 35 qualifying National Insurance years doesn't boost how much State Pension you receive. The only way you may get more is if your 'starting sum' under the new rules is higher than the maximum £230.25 (2025/26) State Pension.

Yes and no. In 2022, the Government announced changes to National Insurance contributions which aimed to bring the self-employed in line with employees.

Under the flat-rate State Pension, class 2 and class 4 National Insurance contributions made by self-employed people with a profit above £12,570 will be treated the same as employee contributions, and count towards the new State Pension in the same way. This will include any contributions made before 6 April 2016, when the new flat-rate system was introduced.

Yes, you can, as long as you've paid enough UK National Insurance (minimum 10 years) to qualify. If you've paid into a social security system overseas that has a dual agreement with the UK, or is in the EU, then those years can count towards the 10 years.

For example, if you have five years in the UK and five years in Portugal, then you'd get 5/35ths of the UK State Pension. This is because the two periods combine to give 10 years, which meets the qualification, but only the five years in the UK actually count towards the amount. If you're unsure how many years you have, check your State Pension forecast.

To claim, you need to be within four months and four days of your State Pension age. You'll also need to contact the International Pension Centre. If you live part of the year abroad you have to choose which country you want your pension to be paid in. You can't be paid in one country for part of the year and another for the rest of the year.

You'll be paid in local currency – the amount you get may change due to exchange rates – and you can choose to be paid every four or 13 weeks. If your State Pension is under £5 a week, you'll be paid once a year in December.

If you live in the UK, your State Pension usually rises each year. But if you move overseas, you're only entitled to an annual increase if you live in:

• Gibraltar or Switzerland
• The European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway)
• A country that has a social security agreement with the UK

If you move to any other country, the amount you get will be frozen at the rate in place when you left the UK.

If you have moved abroad since 1 January 2021 then some changes have been made in relation to Brexit – read the Gov.uk website for full details.

Your State Pension will be calculated entirely under the new State Pension rules. This is more likely to affect you if you were born after the year 2000, or became a resident of the UK after 2015.

Although your entitlement to the flat-rate State Pension is based on your National Insurance contributions alone, there are some circumstances where you can inherit parts of your spouse or civil partner's pension. What you get depends on different factors, such as:

• The number of years they've paid National Insurance. Essentially, the longer they've worked, the more you're likely to get, as there's the potential they have accrued more.

• Whether your deceased spouse or civil partner had any additional State Pension, protected payment, State Pension top-up or 'graduated retirement benefit' (the earnings-related State Pension people could build up between 1961 and 1975). If so, you could get more as there's more to pass on.

Working out exactly how much you're entitled to is complex. The Department for Work and Pensions' online tool allows you to see what you may get if your spouse or civil partner dies, based on your own circumstances.

If you reached State Pension age and got married before 6 April 2016 and are therefore receiving your State Pension under the previous pension rules, it's different. See above in the guide for more.

If your spouse or civil partner passes away, then just as in life, the pension you receive can be based on their National Insurance contributions if their record is better than yours. For example, if you took a career break, you could use their years of NI contributions to plug that gap.

In addition to their State Pension, if your spouse or civil partner reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you may inherit some of their State Pension top-up and half their 'graduated retirement benefit' (the earnings-related State Pension that people could build up between 1961 and 1975) if applicable. You may also inherit some of your spouse or civil partner's deferral payment if they put off claiming their State Pension.

How to work out what you'd get

The Department for Work and Pensions provides an online tool which allows you to see what you may get if your spouse or civil partner dies.

However, be aware that you will not get anything if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before you reach State Pension age. There are more details on how this works on the Gov.uk website.

If you don't have enough money to buy additional NI years to get the full State Pension, your payout may be boosted if you apply for Pension Credit.

Pension Credit is an income-related benefit for low earners who don't qualify for the full flat-rate State Pension of £230.25 a week (2025/26).

If you're eligible for Pension Credit you'll still be entitled to other benefits such as Housing Benefit. See our Pension Credit guide for full information.

Your State Pension might be affected if you're transgender and you:

• Were born between 24 December 1919 and 3 April 1945

• Were claiming the State Pension before 4 April 2005

• Can provide evidence that your gender reassignment surgery took place before 4 April 2005

You don't need to do anything if you legally changed your gender and started claiming State Pension on or after 4 April 2005 – you'll already be claiming based on your legally recognised gender.

The State Pension is taxable, but if you don't have any other income, you won't be taxed. You only start to pay tax if you earn more than £12,570.

That said, if you defer your pension, any lump sum income you take is taxed differently (this is only an option if you reached State Pension age before April 2016).

The figures above are only rough guides, as many other variables affect the amount you will get. You can try Gov.uk's calculator for an indication. The best way to find out is to ring 0800 731 7898 (option 2) – or see other more accessible contact methods.

A pension counts as if it were any other income, so will affect your entitlement to Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support. See our Benefits check guide.

Your pension payment increases annually in April.

There's a system called the 'triple lock' in place, which means every April the State Pension amount increases by the highest of the previous September's inflation rate (based on the Consumer Prices Index), the increase in average earnings, or 2.5%.

The triple lock only applies to your basic State Pension entitlement. If you get an additional 'protected payment' on top, this will increase each year in line with inflation.

It's also worth noting that your pension may not increase every year if you retire to certain countries outside the UK.