The new full State Pension will rise from £221.20 a week to £230.30 a week in the 2025/26 tax year, representing an annual increase of £473, although the amount you’ll personally receive will be based on your National Insurance Contribution record.
The full basic State Pension is currently £169.50 a week, and this will increase to £176.45 at the start of the new tax year on April 6, adding £361 onto annual payments. Here, we explain how to find out how much State Pension you’re likely to get, and how you’re likely to need additional retirement savings to supplement your income when you stop working.
If you’re thinking about getting professional financial advice, you can find a local financial adviser on VouchedFor or Unbiased, or for more information check out our guide on How to find the right financial adviser for you.
Alternatively, if you’d like advice on your private pension, we’ve partnered with independent advice firm Fidelius to offer Rest Less members a free initial consultation with a qualified financial advisor.
Fidelius are rated 4.7 out of 5 from over 1,250 reviews on VouchedFor, the review site for financial advisors. With your free consultation, there’s no obligation, however if the adviser feels you’d benefit from paid financial advice, they’ll talk you through how that works and the charges involved.
Please note that Fidelius can discuss private pensions, but is not able to advise on the State Pension and defined benefit / final salary (e.g. NHS) pensions.
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How much will the State Pension go up by in 2025?
The State Pension is set to increase by 4.1% in the 2025/26 tax year, in line with the government’s triple lock guarantee.
This ties the annual rise in the State Pension either to September’s earnings numbers, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation or a minimum 2.5%, whichever is higher. The earnings growth figure was announced as 4.1%, putting it well above 2.5% and inflation as well, which is why the State Pension will increase by this amount. Find out more about the pension triple lock and how it works.
If you want to find out how much the State Pension has risen by in previous years, read our article How much has the State Pension gone up by?
Which State Pension do I get?
Whether you get the new State Pension or the basic State pension depends on when you were born and the point at which you reached State Pension age:
- If you reached State Pension age before April 2016 basic State Pension rules will apply to you.
- If you reached State Pension age after April 2016, you’ll likely already be claiming the basic State Pension.
Will I get the full State Pension?
You’ll only be eligible for the maximum new state pension if you’ve made 35 ‘qualifying years’ of National Insurance Contributions.
You’ll usually need to have made at least 10 ‘qualifying years’ on your National Insurance record to get any State Pension.
However, bear in mind that having 35 qualifying years will only result in your receiving the full new State Pension if you have no National Insurance record prior to the 2016/17 tax year.
Most people will have made, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions prior to this date, in which case transitional arrangements apply, so as not to disadvantage those who reached pension age before the new State Pension was introduced.
This means that it is not unusual for people with more than 35 qualifying years not to receive the full amount (as the changes only came into effect from 2016/17).
Can I make up gaps in my National Insurance record?
Buying back missed years can be an excellent way to boost your retirement income, and there’s currently a window of opportunity to backdate contributions all the way back to 2006. This is set to close in April 2025, so you’ll need to get your skates on if you want tomake up for gaps in your NI record between 2006 and 2016. After this date, the number of years you can buy falls to the last six years, so if you have missing years from decades ago you won’t be able to make these up.
If you want to buy back missing years, you’ll need to make ‘voluntary class 3 NI contributions’, and the rate is currently £907.40 for a full year (£17.45 per week), which will bolster your State Pension by around £302 a year (£5.82 a week). In simple terms, this means you should get your money back from a year’s worth of voluntary contributions within about four years of drawing your State Pension, and everything after that is a bonus.
Learn more in our article Is it worth paying to top up your State Pension?
How can I get a State Pension forecast?
Getting your State Pension forecast online via the government’s ‘Check your State Pension forecast’ site is the quickest way to receive your statement.
Begin by clicking on the page’s ‘start now’ button, and either log in or create an account. You’ll need to scroll past the pensions section at the bottom and select ‘View your State Pension forecast’.
If you’re due to reach State Pension age in 30 days or more, you can call the Future Pension Centre on 0800 731 0175 and request a posted forecast. This is a government department that focuses on State Pension queries and forecasts. Alternatively, you can download and complete application form BR19 from Gov.uk and send it to the Future Pension Centre to get a State Pension forecast.
The address is:
Newcastle Pension Centre, Futures Group
The Pension Service 9
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LU
You’ll typically receive your forecast within 10 working days, and there’s no charge to use the service.
The amount shown on your personal State Pension forecast will depend on your NI record to date. You may find there’s a single headline figure for your State Pension, and this will typically be because you’ve already paid enough National Insurance to reach the full flat rate (see above), or because you’re within a year of reaching State Pension age.
Alternatively, you may see a smaller amount that’s based on your existing NI record up to the end of the last tax year, and a projected, higher figure in green at the top of the forecast. The latter shows how much you could receive if you continue to work (or pay voluntary NICs/receive NI credits) every year between now and retirement. You could even find there’s a third figure, which shows how much you could receive if you paid to fill in gaps in your NI record. Find out more in our article How can I get a State Pension forecast?
Is the State Pension enough to pay for retirement?
Around 2.4 million (20%) of men over 50 and 4.4 million (33%) women are relying on the State Pension alone to fund their retirement according to research from SunLife. This is despite the fact they’re likely to need much more than this just to get by.
The Pension and Lifetime Savings Association’s latest Retirement Living Standards calculations show that an individual needs an annual income of £14,400 for a ‘minimum standard of living’ in retirement, up from an annual income of £12,800 previously.
This means those on a State Pension would need £55 a week more just to ‘get by’ and £607 a week more if they wanted to enjoy a ‘comfortable retirement’, which would involve things like a subscription to a streaming service, regular beauty treatments, a foreign holiday and several UK minibreaks a year.
Mark Screeton, chief executive at SunLife, said: “It is really worrying that so many over 50s – particularly women – are relying on the State Pension alone to fund their retirement. That level of income is nowhere near enough to sustain even a basic standard of living, let alone a lifestyle that most people would call ‘enjoyable’.”
Almost 7 million people over 50 have no private pension, which means they risk a retirement spent in poverty. If you have yet to pay into a pension, it’s not too late to get started. Take a look at our guide to Saving into a pension for the first time to find out more.
If you already have pensions, either workplace or personal plans, it’s well worth carrying out a thorough review of your retirement savings so that you can make sure they are working as hard as they possibly can for you.
For example, if you’re invested in your employer’s ‘default’ investment scheme, this doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best option for you. Depending on your age, and attitude to risk, you may be able to select investments which better suit your needs. Alternatively, your money may be languishing in a pension with high charges, which are eating into the value of your pot. You can find out more in our articles Where is my pension invested? and What pension charges am I paying?
If you’re thinking about getting professional financial advice, you can find a local financial adviser on VouchedFor or Unbiased.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for somewhere to start, we’ve partnered with independent advice firm Fidelius to offer Rest Less members a free initial consultation with a qualified financial advisor. There’s no obligation, however if the adviser feels you’d benefit from paid financial advice, they’ll talk you through how that works and the charges involved.
Fidelius are rated 4.7 out of 5 from over 1,500 reviews on VouchedFor, the review site for financial advisors.
When can I start claiming my State Pension?
The State Pension age for both men and women is currently 66. This is due to increase to age 67 between 2026 and 2028, affecting anyone born in or after April 1960.
The plan is for the State Pension age to then increase to 68 between 2044 and 2046, which will impact those born after April 1977.
A government review carried out in 2017 suggested bringing this change forward to between 2037 and 2039, meaning people born in the early 1970s would need to wait an extra year before they could claim their State Pension.
To help you understand what your State Pension age is likely to be, you can use this tool to tell you when you’ll be eligible to start claiming. You can learn more about the State Pension in our guide How the State Pension works.
Remember that when you become eligible for the State Pension, it isn’t paid automatically, so you will need to claim it. You should receive a letter no less than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do. You can apply for the new State Pension online here, or you can apply by telephoning the Pension Service on 0800 731 7898.
Find out more about when you can start claiming your State Pension and when you’re able access any other pension savings you might have in our guide Retirement age: when can I retire?
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