Do I Automatically Get My State Pension?

If you are nearing your retirement age and wondering if you automatically get your state pension then the simple answer is no.

Everyone needs to actually claim their state pension and to enable you to do that you will normally be sent a claim form about 4 months before your state pension age. In advance of this you may want to get a forecast of what your state pension may be and you can get this at any time before you retire. If you want to get a forecast of your pension then you can get the relevant form for this on the Government website here.

If you haven’t received a form to claim your state pension and there are only 3 months or less until your state pension is due then you an call the helpline on the freephone number 0800 731 7898. You can also apply for your state pension online here.

So it is a good idea to get organised in advance to make sure that everything is in place for the payment of your state pension when you reach your retirement age. Obviously if you claim your state pension late then payments will be backdated to when they were due to start from so you will not miss out by claiming your state pension too late.

You can also defer your state pension (elect to receive it at a later date) if you do not wish to start claiming it at your state pension age. If you do this then the pension payments will be increased at a level corresponding to how long you have delayed it for.