Many people will be wondering ‘how much state pension will I get?’ – in particular because the state pension has changed from April 2016 and any changes tend to confuse things quite considerably.

Also, with the new state pension, many people will not get the standard amount quoted by the government as the maximum new flat rate pension as they may have been ‘contracted out’ of the top-up level of the state pension system at some point in their working lives.

How much state pension you get will depend on your personal circumstances and in particular how many years you have paid National Insurance (NI) for – and in years, they mean tax years from 6 April to 5 April. This may be as an employed person or as a self-employed person or you may have been getting National Insurance credits or paying voluntary National Insurance. The more years you have paid, the more likely you are to qualify for the full state pension.

So if you are confused as to how much state pension that you may get then there are 3 ways that you can get a better idea of the amount of pension that you are due:

• you can apply for the information online. There is an excellent service on the government website which will give you an estimate of your state pension. You can find further information about it here.

• you can apply for a pension forecast by filling out a form (BR19) and sending it off by post. You can either fill the form in on your computer and then print it off or you can print it off and fill it in by hand. If you fill in the form you just need all of your personal details and don’t need to know how many years of NI you have paid.

• you can call the Helpline on 0800 731 0181

The easiest and quickest way way to find out how much state pension you might get is to use the online calculator where you get a quote straight away. You can find out further information about all of these options, and you can down load the BR19 form at the UK government website here.

If you find that you do not qualify for much state pension because you have not paid enough National Insurance then you may be able to make up some of the shortfall from past years, or if this is not possible then there could be other benefits that you are entitled to so that you have a minimum income in retirement, for example pension credit.

When you fill in the BR19 and send it off you will be advised if it is possible to pay for any past shortfall in National Insurance contributions. It is advisable to take advice from a professional as to whether or not paying extra is in your best financial interests.