Understanding and qualifying for new State Pension (2024)

The new State Pension was introduced on 6 April 2016. You can still receive it if you have other income like a personal or workplace pension. Find out who can claim, how many qualifying years you need, how much you can get and the importance of your National Insurance record.

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

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, these rules do not apply. Instead you will bet the basic 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 were working 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

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

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

The number of qualifying years on your National Insurance record affects how much State Pension you get. Check your State Pension forecastto see what you might get

Working after State Pension Age

If you keep working after you reach State Pension age you can stop paying National Insurance. You can also request flexible working arrangements.

How much you can get

Your State Pension amount depends on your National Insurance record. Check your State Pension forecast to find out how much you could get and when.

The full new State Pension is £203.85 per week.

The only reasonsyou can get more than the full State Pension are if:

• you have over a certain amount of Additional State Pension
• youdefer taking your State Pension

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you’ll get a different amount under the basic State Pension rules.

You can still get a State Pension if you have other income like apersonal pensionor aworkplace pension.

You might have topay tax on your State Pension.

If you’ve reachedState Pension ageand you’re on a low income, you may also qualify forPension Credit, even if you’ve saved money for retirement.

Valuing 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 includesbasic State PensionandAdditional 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 deductionif you were contracted outof 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 isless thanfull new State Pension

You can get more State Pension by adding more qualifying years to your National Insurance record after5 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 £5.82 a week to your new State Pension.The exact amount you get is calculated by dividing £203.85 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 £5.82 a week to your State Pension) equalling £34.92 a week.

This adds up to about £154.92 a week for your State Pension. This figure may change as the starting amount is adjusted to account for inflation.

Your starting amount ismore thanfull 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.

If you did not make National Insurance contributions or get National Insurance 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 part 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 £203.85 by 35 and then multiply by 20.

Your new State Pension will be about £116.48 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)
• 2.5 per cent

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

The new State Pension has increased by 10.1 per centthis year, in line with 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

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.

Your payment day

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.

Claiming or inheriting a deferred State Pension

You can find out more information onClaiming or inheriting a deferred State Pension