The State Pension is increased in April each year in line with the triple lock – which means the highest of inflation growth, earnings growth or 2.5%. This is calculated in September the year before the increase is applied. For 2025 the highest value was inflation which was 4.1% in September 2024.
The state pension increases each year on the first Monday on or after 6th April (for this year it will be Monday 8th April 2024), currently using the triple lock system. This means that you get an increase based on the higher of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%. So every year the state pension will increase, not matter what. Read More
If you are still yet to receive your state pension then you may be wondering how much you will get when you do come to reach state pension age (check out your state pension age here).
The amount of state pension you get depends on the number of qualifying years you have to put towards it. Generally speaking, qualifying years are when you have paid enough National Insurance, or been assigned credits (for example for looking after children) or if you were paying voluntary NI contributions.
As long as you have 10 years worth of credits then you will be entitled to some state pension.
The maximum amount of state pension payable for 2023 is £203.85 per week which is equivalent to £10,600.20 per annum. It is paid every 4 weeks. In order to get the maximum amount you need to have 35 qualifying years. There are other factors involved so this is a generalisation so you need to check your individual circumstances. You can get a state pension forecast through the government website. If you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years then you will get a portion of the maximum payment.
The new State Pension increases each year by whichever is the highest:
Last year it increased by 10.1% due to the high level of inflation.
The latest independent review of State Pension age (commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) has just been published by the government and there are recommendations with regards to the increase in state pension age to 67, 68 and 69. This review follows on from the one undertaken by John Cridland that was published in 2017. None of the recommendations from either of the reviews have been enacted in legislation at this time so things can still change!
Below is a brief summary from the report via excerpts of the recommendations and we will work on the finer details as soon as possible and check the updates that are required to the articles published on this website. Read More
We know that a lot of people are searching out what age they may be able to draw their state pension in the UK when they finally get to retire, and it can be difficult to know what your retirement age may be as the rules keep changing. So for those who are born in 1985, your retirement date at present will be your 68th birthday. Read More
If you were born between 6th October 1954 and 5th April 1960 then your retirement age (i.e. the age at which you can claim your state pension) is age 66 both for men and for women. Read More
If you are approaching state pension age then you might be wondering how you go about getting your state pension and if it gets paid automatically.
Well the answer to this is no, it does not automatically get paid to you, you have to request payment. Read More
If you were born in April 1954 and are able to claim a state pension in the UK then you may be finding it pretty tricky to work out your retirement age – or at least the age at which you can draw your state pension.
Lots of changes to the state pension age have been made in recent years and you are in a batch of people who have been affected quite a bit by the changes. Read More
Were you born in February 1954 and wondering what your retirement age is? By this we mean the age at which you can draw your State pension benefits in the UK.
There are major changes in retirement ages for people born in the 1950s in particular and the retirement age increases at quite a fast rate for those born around this time. For people born around this time, a specific date is given for retirement, rather than when they reach a specific age.
If you were born in February 1954, it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, at this point both retirement ages are the same.
So there is a split in retirement dates depending on which part of the month you were born in as follows:
If you were born between 1st and 5th February 1954 (inclusive) then you can retire on 6 May 2019 (i.e. at age 65 years and 3 months)
If you were born between 6th and 28th February 1954 (inclusive) then you can retire on 6th July 2019 (i.e. at age 65 years and 4 or 5 months)
So there is a big difference between people born on the 5th February and people born on 6th February which means their retirement dates are 2 months apart.
You will usually be sent a form to claim your State pension about 4 months before it is due to be paid. If you do not receive anything then be sure to contact HMRC to make sure everything is in order to get your pension paid on time. You can find out more information on claiming your pension here.
If you are either a man or a woman who was born in January 1954 then working out your retirement date (i.e. the date that you can claim your UK State pension) can be a bit tricky.
Starting with those women who were born in 1953 there is a steep change in retirement ages which increase by 3 months and then 2 months for every month later that you were born.
For men, the retirement age has already risen to age 65 and from this point on it will increase.
This means that those those people who were born in January 1954 have a retirement date as follows:
For those born between (and including) 1st to 5th January 1954, you will have a retirement date of 6 March 2019, i.e. age 65 and 2 months.
For those people who were born between (and including) 6th to 31st January 1954, you will have a retirement date of 6th May 2019, i.e. age 65 and 3 or 4 months.
So there is a big difference even between 2 people that were born a day apart (5th or 6th January 1954).
Pension ages continue to increase over the years to 66 and then 67 and will also continue to increase further as years go by in order to keep the State pension affordable for the government.
You can check out how to find out the amount of State pension that you may be due here.