Online State Pension Forecast Tool

HMRC have introduced a tool that will calculate your expected State Pension for you online. This was first introduced in 2016 in beta mode and has gone through some testing and is now a useful tool to see how much you might get when you retire based on contributions to date and future contributions.

In order to use the State pension forecaster you will need to have your identification verified. You can logon using a government gateway ID if you have one and you will then be sent an access code to your mobile phone to verify your identity.

The pension forecast tool worked pretty quickly for us – it came up with 2 figures – a weekly amount based on the current state pension and any future contributions you need to make (this is also converted to a monthly and annual figure) – and also a weekly amount based on National Insurance contributions paid to date.

It may be the case that the online system is unable to give you a current figure but in the majority of cases it can be a very useful tool to see what income you might be able to get and also what date this will be paid from.

You can also find out the following information:

• your National Insurance number
• details of your National Insurance record and years missed
• how you can improve your state pension – i.e. you may be able to make up years where you have not paid enough NI.

This is a really quick and easy way to get an estimate of the amount of pension you may get and replaces the old system of sending off a form and requesting the amount although you can still request the information this way if you need to.

You can access the online pension forecast tool here.