The State Pension is the government income attributed to those who have reached retirement age. It is primarily funded through national insurance contributions acquired during one’s working life.
State Pension Age
The State Pension is an age-related government-funded income National Insurance contributions support throughout a person’s entire working life. There are two principal kinds of the UK State Pension: the basic State Pension and the new State Pension.
You will be qualifying if you’re either a man born on or after 6 April 1951 or a woman born on or after 6 April 1953. For this new state pension, you require at least 10 qualifying years of your National Insurance record. Those can be gained from employment in which you paid National Insurance or from receiving credits when you are out of work or ill.
New State Pension Eligibility
To be eligible for the new State Pension, you must:
Date of birth:
- Men: You were born from 6 April 1951
- Women: You were born from 6 April 1953
National Insurance contributions:
- You will have at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record. You can get qualifying years by:
- Working and paying National Insurance. This is normally how you acquire qualifying years.
- Accruing National Insurance credits: Even if you have not worked and do not qualify through any of the above, you can still acquire National Insurance credits based on some other qualifying conditions.
- For example, there are times when your income is not taken because of illness, unemployment, or other benefit.
- Voluntary contributions to National Insurance: You can also pay voluntary contributions to National Insurance for more years of qualification.
- You may have worked or even stayed in another country. The rules for contributions outside the UK vary with the countries involved.
State Pension UK Amount
There are two forms which the pension comes in. They include the Basic State Pension and the New State Pension. The amount received is determined by several factors that include how long one has contributed to the National Insurance Scheme and birth dates.
Basic State Pension
- Full Amount : £169.50 per week
- Qualifying Years (Men)
- Born between 1945 and 1951: 30 qualifying years
- Born before 1945: 44 qualifying years
- Qualifying Years (Women):
- Born between 1950 and 1953: 30 qualifying years
- Born before 1950: 39 qualifying years
- Reduced Amount: You will get a lower amount of your Basic State Pension if you have fewer qualifying years than the number that is required. The amount by which your Basic State Pension is reduced is calculated on your qualifying years.
New State Pension
- Full Amount: £221.20 a week
- Amount is calculated on:
- Outstanding State Pension paid out before April 2016
- Years that meet the automatic qualification
- Guaranteed amounts from the old regime
- Minimum Amount: You get a New State Pension smaller than full if you have less than 35 qualifying years. How much you might receive depends on how many years you have paid qualifying National Insurance contributions.
How to apply for the UK State Pension?
There are three kinds of applications for new State Pension in the UK. They are:
Basic State Pension
- Visit https://gov.uk/browse/working/state-pension
- Check if you qualify. Use the online eligibility checker to see whether you’ll get any basic State Pension.
- Start your claim. If you are qualified to apply, click on the ‘start your claim’ button.
- Enter personal details and answer questions. In this step, you will input your personal data: your National Insurance number and date of birth.
- Supporting documents: You are required to upload supporting documents, for instance, proof of identity or employment records.
- Review and Submit: Make sure to double check the application and submit it.
- Decision letter: You are going to be issued a letter with a determination, which is oftentimes an indication of whether you qualify and exactly how much is in your state pension.
State Pension UK Payment Schedule
The State Pension forms a major source of income for most people living in the UK upon attainment of the state retirement age. This section outlines the payment schedule, including how frequently one gets the payments, how the day of payment is computed, and other relevant issues.
Payment Frequency
- Payment is usually made every four weeks directly into your account.
- Clearing arrears: You get money for the previous four weeks. So, you pay in arrears.
- First Payment: The first payment will be made not later than five weeks from when you reach your State Pension age and choose your chosen start date
- Other regular payments: From then on, you will get payments every four weeks.
Payment Day
- Determination by National Insurance number: You decide whether your pension falls on a weekday based on the two last digits of your National Insurance number.
- Payment day: The following schedule table lists payment days based on two digits:
| Last 2 Digits of National Insurance Number | Payment Day |
| 00 to 19 | Monday |
| 20 to 39 | Tuesday |
| 40 to 59 | Wednesday |
| 60 to 79 | Thursday |
| 80 to 99 | Friday |
- Bank holiday arrangements: Actually, if your payment day falls on a bank holiday, then your payment day will be moved forward.