State pension
The state pension is a payment made every four weeks to people of retirement age who have sufficient ‘qualifying years’. You need at least 10 years to receive any state pension, and 35 to get the full amount.
In April 2026, the full new state pension increased by 4.8% to £241.30 per week, or £184.90 if you reached state pension age before April 2016 (for the full old basic state pension).
You may potentially get more or less than this depending on your National Insurance record and any ‘contracted-out’ service you built up before April 2016 (which is more likely to affect public service employees).
You can check how much you will receive using the Government’s state pension forecast.
If it’s unlikely that you will qualify for the full new state pension before state pension age, you may be able to pay Class 3 Voluntary National Insurance contributions to boost your entitlement.
It is best to check with the Future Pension Centre to find out if you'll benefit from paying voluntary contributions.
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State pension age
You can only receive your state pension when you reach your state pension age.
For many years, the UK state pension age was 65 for men and 60 for women, with employers allowed to operate a default retirement age preventing employees from working past 65. However, this default retirement age has now been abolished, meaning that fixed retirement ages from employment are a thing of the past, enabling employees to work longer should they wish to.
The state pension age has also been equalised to 66 for most people, rising to 67 by 2028, and potentially 68 in the future. It’s important to note that individual employers can still operate a fixed retirement age if they can ‘objectively justify it’, for example, for health and safety reasons.
Work out your state pension age with the state pension age calculator.
If you decide to work past your state pension age, and decide not to claim your state pension, you’ll be entitled to a larger state pension when you do stop working, or can elect to claim it while still working.
How your new state pension is worked out
If you were still contributing to the state pension before 6 April 2016 you will qualify for a new state pension on the new rules and your existing National Insurance record will determine your ‘starting amount’.
If your starting amount is lower than the full new state pension, you can increase the value of your state pension with further qualifying years up until you reach state pension age.
You can do this even if you already have 35 qualifying years at the 5 April 2016, although you will not be able to increase your pension to more than the maximum amount of the new state pension.
Each further qualifying year after 6 April 2016 will increase your starting amount by 1/35th of the full new state pension (up to the maximum level).
Your starting amount cannot be any less than your current entitlement. In some cases, individuals will have a bigger state pension under the current rules than they would under the new rules. In such scenarios, the bigger entitlement will be protected but there will be no opportunity to earn extra state pension.
On reaching retirement age, you must make an application to receive your state pension, which you can do online.
State pension increases – the triple lock
Once your state pension comes into payment it will increase in value every year by the greater of the following:
- 2.5%.
- Cost of living increases (as measured by the Consumer Price Index).
- Increases in national average earnings.
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Legal disclaimer
The information contained within this article is not a complete or final statement of the law and is based on the laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
While UNISON has sought to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, it is not responsible and will not be held liable for any inaccuracies and their consequences, including any loss arising from relying on this information. If you are a UNISON member with a legal problem, please contact your branch or region as soon as possible for advice, or for non-employment matters call UNISONdirect.