State Provision

The State pension consists of two parts, the basic State pension and the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) [in April 2002, SERPS was replaced with the State Second Pension].

Both are payable at State Pension Age – 65 for men and 60 for women who were born before 6th April 1950. However, from 6 April 2020, the State Pension age for women will also be 65, having risen gradually from 2010. All women born on or after 6 April 1955 will have a State Pension age of 65.

The size of the state pension is dependent on your national insurance contribution history.

Entitlement to the basic State Pension is dependent on the number of qualifying years you have earned over your working life.

Qualifying years are based on the NI contributions you have paid, been treated as having paid or been credited with during your working life.

Working life

Your working life is the period over which you have to have met the contribution conditions for the basic State Pension. It is normally:

49 years for men.
44 years for women born on or before 5 October 1950.
45 years for women born on 6 October 1950 or on any day through to and including 5 October 1951.
46 years for women born on 6 October 1951 or on any day through to and including 5 October 1952.
47 years for women born on 6 October 1952 or on any day through to and including 5 October 1953.
48 years for women born on 6 October 1953 or on any day through to and including 5 October 1954.
49 years for women born on 6 October 1954 or later.

Your working life is counted from the start of the tax year in which you reach the age of 16 to the end of the tax year before the one in which you reach State Pension age.

(New legislation not yet in force proposes that for those reaching state retirement age after April 2010, a maximum state pension is payable if they have paid national insurance for at least 30 years.)

You may be able to pay extra National Insurance contributions to boost your Basic State Pension. For example, you could pay class 3 contributions if you were out of the country.

The Department of Social Security keeps records of everyone’s NI contributions and are able to provide information about individuals’ State pension eligibility and entitlement.

A free forecast can be requested from the State Pension Forecast Helpline on 0191 218 7585.