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If you reached state pension age on or after 6 April 2016 - or are yet to reach it - you will receive the new state pension, rather than the older basic state pension.
In 2026-27, the full level of the new state pension is £241.30 a week or £12,548 a year.
But you might get more or less than this amount. How much state pension you get depends on how many years' worth of National Insurance (NI) contributions, or ‘qualifying years’, you have (or have been credited with):
Whether you’re unsure if you have enough to retire, or are already accessing your savings, our money guidance service can talk you through your options. Which? Money members get unlimited access to them via phone.
Find out moreThe state pension age is gradually rising from 66 to 67 between April 2026 and April 2028, affecting those born between April 1960 and April 1977.
This table shows when you’ll qualify for the state pension, depending on when you were born:
| Date of birth | Age at which you'll qualify for the state pension | Date you'll reach state pension age |
|---|---|---|
| 6 April 1960 – 5 May 1960 | 66 years and 1 month | Between 6 May 2026 and 5 June 2026 |
| 6 May 1960 – 5 June 1960 | 66 years and 2 months | Between 6 July 2026 and 5 August 2026 |
| 6 June 1960 – 5 July 1960 | 66 years and 3 months | Between 6 September and 5 October 2026 |
| 6 July 1960 – 5 August 1960 | 66 years and 4 months | Between 6 November and 5 December 2026 |
| 6 August 1960 – 5 September 1960 | 66 years and 5 months | Between 6 January and 5 February 2027 |
| 6 September 1960 – 5 October 1960 | 66 years and 6 months | Between 6 March and 5 April 2027 |
| 6 October 1960 – 5 November 1960 | 66 years and 7 months | Between 6 May and 5 June 2027 |
| 6 November 1960 – 5 December 1960 | 66 years and 8 months | Between 6 July and 5 August 2027 |
| 6 December 1960 – 5 January 1961 | 66 years and 9 months | Between 6 September and 5 October 2027 |
| 6 January 1961 – 5 February 1961 | 66 years and 10 months | Between 6 November and 5 December 2027 |
| 6 February 1961 – 5 March 1961 | 66 years and 11 months | Between 6 January and 5 February 2028 |
| 6 March 1961 – 5 April 1977 | 67th birthday | Between 6 March 2028 and 5 April 2044 |
| 6 April 1977 onwards | To be confirmed | To be confirmed |
Notes: If you were born on the 31st of the month and the month in which you’ll reach state pension age has only 30 days, you’ll be considered to reach state pension age on the 30th of that month. For example, if you were born on 31 July 1960, you’re considered to reach the age of 66 and 4 months on 30 November 2026.
If you were born after April 1977, your state pension age isn't yet confirmed.
That's because the state pension age is scheduled to rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046, but this could be brought forward.
The government has to give at least 10 years' notice of a change.
You qualify for the state pension when you reach state pension age, as long as you have built up at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions.
You will get a qualifying year that counts towards your state pension entitlement if:
If you're earning less than £12,584 a year but more than £6,396, you won't pay National Insurance but will still get a qualifying year.
If you have any gaps in your National Insurance record that mean you won't get the full state pension, you can pay voluntary contributions to build up your entitlement.
If you're not working, or have had a period of unemployment, you can still qualify for the state pension.
This is through National Insurance credits, which fill in any gaps in your National Insurance record. You'll receive credits if:
You'll also receive National Insurance credits if you are in work, but don't earn enough to pay National Insurance.
If you live in the UK, you won't receive your state pension automatically when you reach state pension age. You'll get a letter four months before you retire, which will detail how you can claim.
There are three ways you can claim your state pension:
The triple lock, which has been in place since 2011, guarantees that the state pension will rise each April by a minimum of 2.5%.
Increases could be higher than 2.5% if average earnings growth or inflation - the other parts of the triple lock - are higher.
In 2026, the state pension rose by 4.8% in line with average earnings growth, as this was the highest of the three triple lock measures.
Paul Davies, Which? pensions expert, says:
The state pension triple lock is unlikely to be retained forever - it costs the government around £12bn a year extra compared to increasing the payment by inflation only.
Both the state pension age and how much it pays are being considered as part of the current Pensions Commission. It is examining the ‘long-term sustainability, fairness, and adequacy of the UK pensions system through to 2050’.
Its final report isn't due until spring 2027, but it's sensible to assume that the increases to the state pension will be less generous in the future and you’ll have to wait for longer to receive it.
It's possible to improve your state pension income by paying to fill gaps in your NI record.
Before paying voluntary NI contributions, make sure that you’re getting any National Insurance credits you’re entitled to.
These count towards your state pension entitlement in the same way as ordinary NI contributions but don’t cost you anything.
You might be eligible if you’re caring for a child as a parent or grandparent, claiming statutory sick pay or looking after a sick or disabled person.
Another way to boost your state pension is to delay when you take it, but this can take years to pay off.
Topping up your NI contributions can be well worth the money.
It costs £923 to buy one year’s worth of Class 3 NI contributions for 2025-26. One additional year’s worth of NI contributions usually boosts your state pension by 1/35th of the full state pension, which works out at about £359 a year based on what the state pension is worth in 2026-27.
Based on the current rates, you’d earn back your initial £923 outlay in less than three years. And over 20 years would receive an extra £6,257 in state pension, taking into account the cost of topping up.
If you reached state pension age before 6 April 2016, you're covered under the basic state pension.
This is worth £184.90 a week in 2026-27 (£9,614.80 a year).
Whether you're covered under the basic state pension or the new state pension, if you built up some additional state pension while you were working, you could get more than the headline amounts.
Under the old state pension system, if you had a private pension, you had the option to ‘contract out’ of the additional state pension.
This involved paying less National Insurance, and instead of building up your state pension entitlement, you’d receive a boost to your workplace pot.
The arrival of the new state pension in 2016 ended contracting out, but your contracting-out history will still influence how much you get under both the old and the new system.
For example, even if you have 35 years' of NI contributions, having been contracted out could mean you're not entitled to the full level of new state pension.
However, if you did build up additional state pension, your state pension will reflect this and might be higher than the headline amounts.
As of 31 March 2025, the government had repaid more than £800m to more than 130,000 people who were underpaid their state pension due to system errors.
Women who reached state pension age before April 2016 are most likely to be affected.
You should be contacted automatically if you’re owed money, but if you think you have been underpaid, contact the Pensions Service on 0800 731 0469.