Guide to the basic State Pension

What is the basic State Pension?

The basic State Pension (also known as the old State Pension) is a regular payment from the government to those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016.

The basic State Pension won’t be paid automatically, so you’ll need to claim it.

You’ll be eligible for the basic State Pension if you’re:

• a woman born on or before 6 April 1953
• a man born on or before 6 April 1951

If you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, you’ll need to claim the new State Pension instead.

You can use the calculator on the gov.uk website to check your State Pension age (or pensionable age).

Note that you can keep working after you reach State Pension age. There’s no longer a default retirement age of 65.

How much can you receive?

From April 2024, the full, single-person basic State Pension is £169.50 per week. But the exact amount you’ll get could be more or less than this.

Calculation of payments

To get the full basic State Pension amount, you’ll need a certain number of ‘qualifying years’ of National Insurance (NI) contributions. You may have paid NI in many ways including through payroll when employed, given credits with some benefits or by paying voluntarily. You can check your personal NI record online.

If you’re a man, you’ll typically need:

• 30 qualifying years if you were born between 1945 and 1951
• 44 qualifying years if you were born before 1945

If you’re a woman, you’ll usually need:

• 30 qualifying years if you were born between 1950 and 1953
• 39 qualifying years if you were born before 1950

If you don’t have the full number of qualifying years, your oId State Pension amount will be lower. For most people, each qualifying year you have will give you 1/30^th of the full basic State Pension.

As an example, if you had 20 qualifying years of NI contributions, you’d get 20/30ths of the full basic State Pension. That’s £169.50 / 30 x 20 = £113.

Men born before 1945 and women before 1950 might need specialist advice on this.

You can check your National Insurance record online. Contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if you think your NI record is wrong.

Annual increases

The basic State Pension will go up in April each year, based on a system known as the “triple lock”. This means it increases by whichever is highest of the following:

• The average increase in wages between May and July of the previous year
• How much general costs have risen, based on September’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation
• 2.5%

Additional State Pension

You might also be eligible for the Additional State Pension. This is paid on top of the basic State Pension and is paid automatically.

How much you get will depend on:

• How many years you paid NI
• Your earnings
• Whether you were contracted out of the scheme.
• Whether you topped up your basic State Pension (between 12 October 2015- 5 April 2017)

If you were contracted out, this meant paying lower NI contributions and accepting a lower or no Additional State Pension. To find if this applies to you, check an old payslip or call your pension scheme provider.

State Pension forecast

To work out how much State Pension you’re entitled to, when you can get it and how to increase it, you can get a State Pension forecast from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Who is eligible for the basic State Pension?

Whether you are eligible for basic State Pension will depend on certain factors.

Eligibility criteria

You must be a woman born on or before 6 April 1953 or a man born on or before 6 April 1951 to get the basic State Pension.

You’ll need to have between 30 and 44 qualifying years to get the full amount. But you can still get some basic State Pension if:

You’re a man and you have:

• 1 qualifying year if you were born between 1945 and 1951
• 11 qualifying years if you were born before 1945

You’re a woman and you have:

• 1 qualifying year if you were born between 1950 and 1953
• 11 qualifying years if you were born before 1950

If you don’t meet the criteria, you might still be eligible but you’ll need to contact the Pension Service or the International Pension Centre if you live abroad.

Will I receive a full pension if I have never worked?

If you’ve never worked, some National Insurance contributions may have been credited to you in certain situations. This includes if you were caring for a child or someone with a disability, or if you claimed certain benefits. If so, you’ll still be entitled to some State Pension.

You might also be able to claim basic State Pension if your spouse or civil partner paid enough NI contributions or received enough NI pension credits. You must have both reached State Pension age to qualify.

The maximum amount you could get is:

• £101.55 per week if you’re under 80 years old
• £101.80 per week if you’re 80 or over.

The same applies if you are a widow or widower and your partner paid enough NI contributions.

The maximum amount you could get is:

• £169.50 per week if you’re under 80
• £169.75 per week if you’re 80 or over.

Can I claim if I am still working?

You can claim the basic State Pension while you’re still working. But you should consider this carefully as it could affect your entitlement to other benefits. This includes if you claim Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax reduction.

As State Pension is taxable, when added to your earnings, it could also put you in a higher tax band.

How to claim your basic State Pension As the basic State Pension isn’t paid automatically, you’ll need to understand the pension claim process:

Step-by-step process

In England, Scotland and Wales:

1. Check you know the date of your most recent marriage, civil partnership or divorce, the dates of any time spent living or working abroad, your bank details, and the invitation code from your State Pension letter.
2. Fill in the online form on the gov.uk website, or phone the Pension Service on 0800 731 7898 to claim. You can also ask for a claim form to be posted to you or download the form on the gov.uk website and post it back.

In Northern Ireland, you can claim on the NI Direct website or phone the Northern Ireland Pension Service Centre on 0808 100 2658.

Required documents

You will need to provide the following documents when you claim:

1. Your National Insurance number (and your partner’s if you have a partner)
2. Proof of identity, such as a passport or birth certificate
3. Marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate
4. Divorce certificate or civil partnership dissolution certificate
5. Employment details.

Key deadlines

You can start claiming any time after you reach State Pension age. If you claim within the first year, you can ask for your claim to be backdated to when you were entitled to start receiveing your State Pension.

Once you’ve made your claim, your basic State Pension will usually be paid into your bank account every four weeks.

The day it’s paid will depend on your NI number.

Managing your State Pension

There are ways to increase your pension amount, or you might want to consider deferring it.

How to increase your pension amount

If you’re not entitled to the full State Pension you may be able to increase it by paying voluntary contributions to cover any gaps in your National Insurance record.

It’s best to contact the Pension Service first to find out if you’ll benefit from voluntary contributions. Or contact the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500 for more information.

Deferring your State Pension

If you decide to postpone or defer your State Pension, you could receive more when you do claim it. You’ll be asked whether you want to take your extra State Pension as either higher weekly payments or a one-off lump sum.

• If you choose higher weekly payments, your basic State Pension will increase by 10.4% for each year you defer.
• If you choose a one-off lump sum, this will have interest of 2% above the Bank of England base rate added to it.

If you’re claiming certain benefits, be aware that these can be affected if you defer your State Pension.

MoneyHelper can offer guidance on this.

Comparison: basic State Pension vs new State Pension The basic State Pension was replaced by the new State Pension in April 2016. Although there are similarities, there are also several differences.

Key differences

Take a look at this basic State Pension and new State Pension comparison:

Who falls under each scheme?

The table below shows who qualifies for both the basic State Pension and the new State Pension:

Summary: planning for retirement with the basic State Pension

Understanding how much State Pension you could be entitled to is a crucial part of retirement planning. How much money you need to retire will depend on the type of lifestyle you want. If you find that the State Pension isn’t sufficient to meet your retirement needs, you might need to look into different income streams to help you live the life you want.