New State Pension is money paid to people who reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you may be entitled to the Basic State Pension.

You can check the date that you reach State Pension age on Gov.UK: Check your State Pension age page. 

Applies to: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Age rules: Currently, State Pension age is 66. This is due to change in the future

Type of benefit: Non means tested, contributory

Taxable: Yes

Administered by: The Pension Service

You can only get New State Pension if you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you may be entitled to the Basic State Pension.

To get New State Pension, you need to have paid enough national insurance contributions or received enough national insurance credits.

If you haven’t paid enough national insurance contributions yourself, you will not be able to claim New State Pension. Check the New State Pension – What if I don’t qualify? section of this guide to see what you can do or what else you can claim.

As long as you satisfy the national insurance conditions, you can get New State Pension even if you are working or have other income. You do not have to claim your State Pension straight away and may choose to defer your State Pension . Deferring your pension can increase your entitlement later on.

The contribution conditions

You are entitled to some New State Pension if you paid enough national insurance contributions or received enough national insurance credits for ten years.  

To find out if you have paid enough national insurance contributions to qualify for New State Pension, you can request a State Pension statement. You can do this online at  Gov.UK: Check your State Pension or you can contact the Pension Service by telephone or post.

The amount of New State Pension that you receive depends on your national insurance contributions and national insurance credits.

A State Pension statement can tell you how much New State Pension you will receive. You can request a statement online on the Gov.UK: Check your State Pension  or you can contact the Pension Service by telephone or post.

The full New State Pension is £221.20 per week. If you defer your pension, you may be able to get more than this.

You are entitled to the full amount of New State Pension if you paid enough national insurance contributions or received national insurance credits for a total of 35 years.  

For each year that is missing from your national insurance record, your entitlement is reduced by one thirty-fifth. 

If you have not yet reached 66, you may be able to pay voluntary national insurance contributions to fill the gaps in your national insurance record and increase your entitlement. You can read more about making voluntary contributions at Gov.UK: Voluntary National Insurance.

Additional amounts

The New State Pension does not usually include any additional amounts.

If you paid national insurance contributions before 6 April 2016 and you would have been better off claiming the old Basic State Pension, you could receive an additional amount so that you are not any worse off claiming the New State Pension. 

If you receive New State Pension, you also qualify for a Christmas Bonus which is £10 each year. The Christmas Bonus does not affect any other benefits which you may be receiving. 

If you do not claim your New State Pension as soon as you reach State Pension age and you choose to defer, your entitlement could be increased. Read Gov.UK: Delay (defer) your State Pension to find out how much your entitlement would go up.

Triple Lock

The New State Pension increases every year by whichever is the highest:

• Earnings – the average percentage growth in wages in Great Britain
• Prices – the percentage growth in prices in the UK, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5%

Forecast

A State Pension statement can tell you how much New State Pension you will receive. You can request a statement online at Gov.UK: Check your State Pension or you can contact the Pension Service by telephone or post.

New State Pension and Other Benefits

New State Pension counts as income when working out your entitlement to other benefits.

You may not qualify for the New State Pension because you haven’t paid enough national insurance contributions or received enough national insurance credits.  

You cannot receive any New State Pension based on your partner’s national insurance contributions. However, there are exceptions for people who were married before April 2016 and whose husband or wife has died, and for women who were allowed to pay a reduced rate of national insurance contributions under the old rules. This can be complicated, so you should get advice if you think this applies to you. 

You could also be eligible for Pension Credit to top-up your income.

Start the claim

You will not automatically get New State Pension, you have to claim it. You do not have to claim it straight away. You can start claiming at any time after you reach State Pension age.

If you start your claim up to 12 months after you reach State Pension Age, you can ask that the claim is backdated to when your entitlement started. If you start your claim over 12 months after you reach State Pension Age, you will be treated as having deferred your pension. You can still choose to have it backdated but this would mean missing out on the increases you get from deferring your pension. If this applies to you, get advice before deciding whether to request backdating. 

You will usually receive a letter from the Pension Service around four months before you reach State Pension Age telling you how to claim. If you have not received a letter and there are less than three months left before you reach State Pension Age, you can phone the claim line to find out the next steps.

If you do not qualify for New State Pension, or the amount you receive is low, and you turned State Pension Age before 6 April 2016, you will usually receive a letter from the Pension Service before you turn 80 telling you how to claim the Over 80 pension. If you have not received a letter, you can contact the Pension Service or, in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Pension Centre. 

In England, Scotland or Wales

Claim online or using British Sign Language (BSL) at Gov.UK: Claim your State Pension online. 

Phone the Pension Service:

• Telephone: 0800 731 7898
• Textphone: 0800 731 7339
• Welsh Language Line: 0800 731 7936
• Textphone: 0800 731 7013

Download a claim form from the New State Pension: How to claim page on the Gov.UK website.
 
In Northern Ireland

Claim online on the NI Direct website. 

Provide documents

You may need to provide these when you claim:

• Your national insurance number (and partner's, if you have one)
• Proof of your identity (for example, your passport, birth certificate or driving licence)
• Marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate
• Divorce certificate or civil partnership dissolution certificate.
• Details of your employment.

Receive payments

Your New State Pension will be paid directly into your bank or building society account. If you are unable to open or manage an account, you could be paid through the Payment Exception Service.

New State Pension is usually paid every four weeks.

New State Pension counts as income for other benefits.

If you are unhappy with a decision about your New State Pension, then you can find out the reasons for it, or ask that it is changed. 

Any decision about your New State Pension will be sent to you by letter. The date at the top of the letter is the decision date, which you need to know if you want to challenge the decision.

If you do not understand a decision, you can ask for an explanation. You can request a written statement of reasons by contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) using the details in the decision letter.

If you think a decision is wrong, you can challenge it and ask the DWP to change it. You must do this within a strict time limit, usually one month from the date of the decision.

You can read more about challenging decisions in our Challenging Department for Work and Pensions benefits decisions guide. 

If you need help to understand a decision or to get it changed, you can use our Find an Advisor tool to find a benefits adviser near you.