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Basic State Pension
Nearly everyone in the United Kingdom will be entitled to claim the Basic State Pension when they come to retire.
The Basic State Pension is the main retirement benefit, which is paid to people who have reached the State Retirement Age (currently 60 if you are a woman, and 65 if you are a man).
The amount of Basic State Pension that you are likely to receive will depend on the number of years of National Insurance Contributions you have built up.
In order to qualify for the minimum Basic State Pension, you must have paid National Insurance Contributions for 10 or 11 years of your working life. In order to qualify for the maximum, or full Basic State Pension, you must have paid contributions throughout your working life for a total of 44 years if you are a man, and 39 years if you are a woman.
There are three main types of Basic State Pension.
- Category A which is based on your own National Insurance record
- Category B which is only available to married women, widows and widowers, and is based on your spouses National Insurance record, instead of your own
- Category D which is a non-contributory pension as is payable to people over the age of 80
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Do I qualify?
Category A
You will qualify for the Category A retirement pension if:
- You are aged 60 or over if you are a woman, and 65 or over if you are a man (but see the Is there anything else I should know section? below).
- You have either paid, been treated as having paid, or been credited as having paid sufficient National Insurance Contributions throughout your working life. You may have paid these as an employee or a self-employed person, or you may have been credited as having paid during a time claiming a certain benefit.
Category B
There are different criteria to claiming the Category B retirement pension, depending on whether you are a married woman, a widow or a widower.
If you are a married woman, you will qualify for the Category B retirement pension if:
- You are aged 60 or over, and your husband is aged 65 or over (e.g. you have both reached the State Retirement age).
- Your husband has made sufficient National Insurance Contributions throughout his working life, and has become entitled to a Category A retirement pension in his own right.
However, please note, that any increase in your husbands Category A pension, that this increase will be replaced by this Category B pension, and your husband will no longer receive any increase.
If you are a widow, you will qualify for the Category B retirement pension if:
- You were aged 60 or over when your husband died, or;
- You were widowed (and not remarried) before the age of 60, and you are entitled to a Widows Pension (if you would have been receiving a Widows Pension, but it was suspended because you were cohabiting, you will still qualify for the Category B retirement pension, as soon as you reach the State Retirement age), and;
- Your husband had made sufficient National Insurance Contributions throughout his working life, and had become entitled to a Category A retirement pension in his own right, or;
- Your husband died as a result of an industrial injury or disease (if this is the case, then the above rule regarding National Insurance Contributions can be ignored).
If you are a widower, you will qualify for the Category B retirement pension if:
- Your wife died on or after the 6 April 1979, and;
- At the time your wife died, she was aged 60 or over and you were aged 65 or over (e.g. you had both reached the State Retirement age), and;
- Your wife had made sufficient National Insurance Contributions throughout her working life, and had become entitled to a Category A retirement pension in her own right
Category D
You will qualify for the Category D retirement pension if:
- You are aged 80 or over;
- You were resident in Britain on the day that you reached 80, and you have been resident in Britain for a period of at least ten years in any continuous period of 20 years immediately before you reached the age of 80;
- You are either entitled to no other retirement pension, or if you are in receipt of another retirement pension, you must receive less than the current rate of a Category D retirement pension
How much will I receive?
The amount of Basic State Pension that you are likely to receive will depend on whether you are claiming a Category A retirement pension, a Category B retirement pension as a married woman, a Category B pension as a widow, or a Category B retirement pension as a widower.
Category A
If you are claiming a Category A retirement pension, you can expect to receive:
£84.25 per week
..as the claimant
£50.50 per week
for a spouse or adult dependant
However, you may get less than this if you have an incomplete National Insurance record. If so, you may wish to improve your National Insurance record by paying Class 3 contributions, to make up for any shortfall
Category B
If you are claiming a Category B retirement pension as a married woman, you can expect to receive:
£50.50 per week
..as the claimant
However, you may get less than this if your husband has an incomplete National Insurance record. If so, your husband may wish to improve his National Insurance record (or you may wish to improve yours and become entitled to a Category A retirement pension in your own right) by paying Class 3 contributions to make up for any shortfall
If you are claiming a Category B retirement pension as a widow or widower, you can expect to receive:
£82.05 per week
..as the claimant
However, you may get less than this if your spouse had an incomplete National Insurance record. If so, you may wish improve his or her National Insurance record by paying Class 3 contributions to make up for any shortfall
Category D
If you are claiming a Category D retirement pension, you can expect to receive £50.50 each week.
How do I claim?
There is not normally a need to make a claim, as the Pension Service will usually send you an invitation to claim your State Pension, about four months before you reach the State Retirement age.
If you have not received your invitation to claim your State Pension, three months before you reach the State Retirement age, you should contact the Pension Service by calling 0845 300 1084. The line is open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays), and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. All calls are charged at the local rate.
Is there anything else I should know?
The State Retirement age for women (currently 60) is going to gradually increase to 65 between 2010 and 2020. This change will affect all women who were born after the 5 April 1950.
In addition to the Basic State Pension, you may also be entitled to the Christmas bonus for more information, please click here
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