TPAS - The Pensions Advisory Service

Basic State Pension

A woman, whether married or single, is entitled to claim the Basic State Pension (BSP) on reaching her State Pension Age (SPA).  The amount available is dependant on the number of qualifying years she has and whether she reaches her SPA before or after 6 April 2010.

Reaching SPA before 6 April 2010

The full BSP is £95.25 per week and is payable if you have 39 qualifying years.

The minimum you can get is 25% of the full BSP.  To get the minimum BSP, you will need to have at least 10 qualifying years.  You will get a proportion of the full BSP of between 25% and 100%, depending on the number of qualifying years you have.

Reaching SPA on or after 6 April 2010

The number of qualifying years required to get the full BSP will reduce to 30 for those reaching SPA on or after 6 April 2010.

There will no longer be a minimum requirement.  You will therefore receive a proportionate BSP for the number of qualifying years your have.  So, if you have 5 qualifying years, you will receive a BSP of 5/30ths of the full amount.

Claiming on a husband's record

If you do not qualify for a full BSP in your own right on reaching your SPA, you may be able to claim a higher amount based on your husband's NI contributions. You may be able to get a BSP of up to 60% of his.  If he receives the full BSP, this equates to £57.05 (in 2009/10).

If you are claiming on your husband's record, you cannot receive the BSP until your husband starts drawing his.  So, if you are over SPA and your husband has not yet reached his, you will receive a BSP based on your own NI contribution record until he claims his. However, you can get any Additional State Pension you are entitled to from your SPA, regardless of your husband's circumstances.

Adult Dependency Increase (ADI)

If your husband receives some BSP and you are financially dependent on him, he may be able to get extra BSP. You must be under SPA yourself to be classed as dependent on your husband.  If you are living together, your husband will not be paid extra BSP if you have earnings or State benefits of £TBA per week (in 2009/10). If you are living apart, you cannot have earnings of more than £57.05 per week (in 2009/10).

Deferral

It is possible to defer claiming your BSP. When you eventually decide to claim your pension, it will be higher than it would have been had you claimed it at your SPA.  Click here to read more about deferral.

State Pension Age (SPA)

The SPA for women is currently 60.

• Between 2010 and 2020, the SPA for women will increase to 65 to ensure equality. Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1955 are affected by this change.

• Between 2024 and 2026, 2034 and 2036 and 2044 and 2046, the SPA for both men and women will rise to 66, 67 and 68, respectively.  Those born after 6 April 1959 are affected by these changes.

Click here to find your SPA using our online calculator.

Future changes

The government has announced changes to the State Pension.  The changes affect the age the State Pension can be claimed, the number of qualifying years required to claim the full Basic State Pension, flexibility for those claiming a pension based on a spouse's record, how Home Responsibilities Protection is calculated and the way pensions are uprated.  Click here for information about the changes.

Q & As

How do I find out how much my state pension will be?

If you are unsure of what your pension will be from the State and you have not yet reached State Pension age you can contact the Retirement Forecast Team on 0845 3000 168 to obtain a State Pension forecast. The sooner you get this information, the sooner you can plan for your retirement.

What if I have a gap in my qualifying record?

If you have not paid or been credited with enough NI contributions it may be possible for you to make voluntary NI contributions so that you at least receive a reduced basic State Pension. It is worth looking into paying voluntary NI contributions and you should ask your local pension centre or social security office if you are eligible to pay any further NI contributions to enable you to enhance, or qualify for, a basic State Pension. Please bear in mind that you can normally only go back 6 tax years from the date in which the contributions were due. Exceptionally there is a group of women who have an exception (please see section on Voluntary Contributions under our State Pensions section). For these women the time limit for unpaid contributions in the tax years 1996/1997 through to 2001/2002 is 5 April 2009 (for women who reach state pension age on or after 24 October 2004). For women who reach state pension age before this date the time limit is 5 April 2010.

Any contributions you pay after reaching State Pension age in respect of years when you had arrears of NI contributions cannot normally count for payment of State Pension from a date earlier than the day on which you actually pay the contributions. For more information get hold of leaflet CA07, Unpaid and late paid contributions, on 0845 900 0404.

It may be that in certain situations it may not be worth your while to pay voluntary NI contributions, for example if the amount you contribute only earns you an amount equal to the basic State Pension that you could claim already based on your husband's contributions. Please contact us at TPAS for further guidance.

You should be aware that if you paid Married Women's Reduced-Rate contributions for the whole of your working lifetime then this does not entitle you to a basic State Pension in your own right. However you may be able to claim Pension Credit (see section entitled Pension Credit) as this is based on you and your partner's income and capital and not dependent on your NI contribution record.

See also Voluntary NI Contributions in our state pensions section.