State Pensions are unlikely to produce the same level of income that you will have been accustomed to whilst working so it’s important to build up an additional retirement fund.
Single Tier State Pension
The new State Pension is a regular payment from the government that you can claim if you have reached State Pension Age (SPA) on or after 6 April 2016. Other arrangements applied prior to that date.
You’ll be able to get the new State Pension if you are eligible and:
- a man born on or after 6 April 1951
- a woman born on or after 6 April 1953
If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you’d get the State Pension under the Basic State Pension and Additional State benefits headers as shown below.
The full new State Pension is £175.20 per week (2020-21). Your National Insurance record is used to calculate your new State Pension. You’ll usually need 10 qualifying years to get any new State Pension, 35 qualifying years for the full amount.
The amount you get can be higher or lower depending on your National Insurance record.
The basic State Pension applies to people whose State Pension Age falls before 6th April 2016, for people who have paid sufficient National Insurance Contributions while at work or have been credited with enough contributions. **
Additional State Pension (as above) – referred to as the State Second Pension (S2P) but before 6 April 2002, it was known as the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). From 6 April 2002, S2P was reformed to provide a more generous additional State Pension for low and moderate earners, carers and people with a long-term illness or disability and is based upon earnings on which standard rate Class 1 National Insurance Contributions are paid or treated as having been paid. Additional State Pension is not available in respect of self-employed income.
From April 2016, both the basic State Pension and Additional State Pension were combined to offer a simple single tier flat rate pension. **
** For those who have reached State Pension Age on or after 6th April 2016, these no longer apply.
Informative Videos
We have produced some short informative pension videos, one of which being about the State Pension. They can be accessed by completing the form below. (By accessing these videos you consent to Personal Asset Management contacting you).