State Pension explained: age, amount and how to claim

How much you get

The full rate of the new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27. Not everyone gets it: your amount depends on your National Insurance record. You need at least 10 qualifying years to get any pension and 35 for the full rate. Between the two, each year counts for one thirty-fifth, about £6.89 a week.

The pension is paid every 4 weeks and rises each April by the highest of earnings growth, price inflation or 2.5%. If you have years before April 2016, your amount starts from a starting amount that can be higher or lower than the 35-year rule, so your forecast is the figure to trust.

What counts as a qualifying year

• Employed, earning over £242 a week from one employer and paying National Insurance.
• Employed, earning between £129 and £242 a week from one employer: treated as having paid.
• Self-employed and paying Class 2 contributions, £3.65 a week in 2026/27.
• Paying voluntary contributions, £18.40 a week in 2026/27.
• Getting National Insurance credits, for example Child Benefit for a child under 12, or some benefits.

When you can claim

State Pension age is the earliest age you can start receiving the State Pension. It is 66 for people born from 6 October 1954 to 5 April 1960. For those born from 6 April 1960 to 5 March 1961 it is 66 years and 1 to 11 months, and for those born from 6 March 1961 to 5 April 1977 it is 67.

Under the current law it then rises to 68 between 2044 and 2046, but the age is reviewed regularly and a review could change it. Enter your date of birth in the calculator for your own date.

Fill a gap, or not

You can pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance to fill a gap. In 2026/27 a year costs £956.80, 52 weeks at £18.40, and adds about £358.50 a year to your pension, so it pays itself back in about 2 years and 8 months of pension.

You can only pay for the past 6 years, up to 5 April, and the Future Pension Centre can check whether a gap payment would help you. If you will reach 35 years by working anyway, a gap payment adds nothing, and years when you were contracted out already count.

Claim now or delay

The State Pension is not paid automatically: you claim it, online with the invitation code from your letter, by phone or by post, and you can ask up to 4 months before. If you do not claim, it is deferred.

For every 9 weeks you wait, at least 9, you get 1% more for life, just under 5.8% for a year. You can also take up to 52 weeks of the deferred pension as a one-off payment: for the full rate that is £12,547.60. It takes over 15 years to get back a year of delayed pension, and the extra can be taxed.

Common mistakes

• Not claiming: the State Pension does not start by itself.
• Counting on 35 years without checking the forecast.
• Paying for a gap that is not a gap: contracted-out years already count.
• Forgetting the 6-year limit and the 5 April deadline for voluntary contributions.
• Treating the age as fixed: it is reviewed regularly.