You get it when you reach State Pension age. Buy more 'pension years' if you've already hit state pension age. What you get depends on different factors, such as: Working out exactly how much you're entitled to is complex. If you were contracted out via a personal pension, you'll need to get your pension provider to confirm. Pension credit is an income-related benefit for low earners who don't qualify for the full basic flat-rate of £175.20 a week. Our TravelMoneyMax tool compares 30+ bureaux to max your holiday cash. Although you'll then get a higher state pension payout, if you were to die suddenly you'd have lost out on a huge sum. However, your pension may not increase every year if you retire to certain countries outside the UK. They can be personal pensions arranged by you or workplace pensions arranged by your employer. For guidance on a defined benefit pension go to The Pensions Advisory Service. 3157344) is MoneySupermarket House, St. David's Park, Ewloe, Chester, CH5 3UZ. Your state pension might be affected if you're transgender and you: You don't need to do anything if you legally changed your gender and started claiming state pension on or after 4 April 2005 – you'll already be claiming based on your legally-recognised gender. Campaign group WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality – has fought against the pace of change in women's state pension age, but lost a legal fight against the government. This will include any contributions made before 6 April 2016. In some cases, you can do this even when you’re not working, such as when you’re bringing up children or claiming certain benefits. However, the longer you leave your pot to continue building up, the more money you will have to live on in retirement. If you were working full time, even on the minimum wage – or had a job for a few days each week throughout the year – it's likely you earned a qualifying year. You might have a final salary scheme where your pension is based on your pay when you retire or leave the scheme, or alternatively a career-average scheme where your pension is based on the average of your pay while you were a member of the scheme. Some retailers are undoubtedly using it to make us pay more to get less. MoneySavingExpert.com is part of the MoneySuperMarket Group, but is entirely editorially independent. A pension counts as if it were any other income, so will affect your entitlement to pension credit, housing benefit or council tax support. Millions of workers with company pensions in the public and private sectors are affected. Call 0800 99 1234 to find out. defined contribution – based on how much money has been paid into your pension pot, defined benefit (final salary or career average) – based on your salary and how long you’ve worked for your employer, Master trust pension (e.g. The rising pension age for women has triggered much controversy – previously it was just 60. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. You should get a letter no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do. What you get depends on how many so-called 'qualifying years' of national insurance (NI) contributions you have. You can check if you're eligible for credits, but you need to wait until a tax year ends on 5 April before you can apply for credits for the previous 12 months. However, if you don't meet this 10-year minimum, you won't get a penny (although pension credit should be available). This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service. If you're a married woman but don't have the full number of qualifying years and your husband also retired before April 2016 and he receives the full basic state pension, you should be eligible for the married women's rate of at least £80.45 a week (60% of the full amount). And some people can get more. If you had fewer than 25% of the qualifying years (44 for a man, 39 for a woman), then you wouldn't be entitled to a basic state pension. If you work full-time, even on the minimum wage or just a few days a week throughout the year, you are likely to earn a qualifying year. This is simply worked out by totting up the number of eligible NI years you have. Shows which top cards and loans you're most likely to get. If it could persuade workers to give up their right to the additional state pension – 'contracting out' – the Government could make huge savings and let private companies take the strain instead. How much should you be saving for your kids to go to uni? So if you buy one extra year you'll earn back what you paid in just over three years. Pensioners that reached state pension age before April 2016 and receive the basic state pension will see their weekly pension payments rise from £134.25 to £137.65 next year. If you ask for a state pension statement from the Government it will include this amount. You'll be paid in local currency – the amount you get may change due to exchange rates – and you can choose to be paid every four or 13 weeks. As with the previous system, you receive the state pension when you reach the Government's official retirement age. This is made up of the deferred payment plus interest at 2% above the Bank of England base rate. This mainly affects people who won't have enough qualifying NI years because they've been 'contracted out' of the state pension in the past. Full-time parents and those who can't work. No. This extra payout is called SERPS (state earnings-related pension scheme), S2P or the state second pension. Can I inherit my spouse or civil partner's pension when they die? Reducing the amount of tax-free cash you take might increase the amount of income you receive. To qualify for the previous state pension you need to have worked and paid NI contributions, or have been on qualifying benefits. If you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years, you'll get a pro-rata rate. Those NI contributions or credits on your record under the previous state pension, still count towards your new state pension – you don't have to start from scratch with your contributions under the new system.