State Pension Age (SPA)

When you reach your State Pension Age, you may also be entitled to receive a pension from the State called your State Pension.

Your State Pension Age will depend on your date of birth. You can find out your State Pension Age (SPA) here.

State Pension

For individuals who reach State Pension Age, the full amount of State Pension is set by the Government.

However, this amount will be lower if you haven’t paid full National Insurance Contributions (or received full National Insurance credits) for 35 years. This could be due to periods when you were not working and not claiming benefits, had low earnings, were ‘contracted-out’ of a pension plan, or were living abroad.

The amount payable to you will reduce proportionately depending on how many years’ full contributions you have made. You may be able to make voluntary National Insurance Contributions to fill any gaps in your contribution record.

You can find out the State Pension you will be entitled to receive here.

Tax on your State Pension

Income from your State Pension will be taxed at your marginal rate of income tax, in the same way as other income.

How your State Pension increases in retirement

The basic State Pension increases every year by whichever is the highest of the following:

  • 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%

The method of increasing the State Pension is decided by the Governments and is kept under review.

Delaying your State Pension

You can’t take your State Pension earlier than your State Pension Age, but you can delay it. Your State Pension will currently increase by just under 5.8% for each year you defer.

You can find out more about delaying (deferring) your State Pension on the Government’s State Pension website

Other State benefits

You may also be entitled to other State benefits in retirement, like Pension Credits and Winter Fuel Payments. Please visit the Money Advice Service website to find out more.