State Pension in 2022: how much it is and your eligibility

If you are over State Pension age, you may be eligible to receive State Pension. Then, you could receive payments weekly. In fact, this is if you are elderly. Your-Benefits will walk you through everything you need to know about the State Pension.

What is the State Pension?

The State Pension is a payment regularly paid from the government to most people who reach State Pension age and claim it. Then, you will be able to receive a certain weekly amount.

There are two versions of the scheme: the basic State Pension and new State Pension. The basic version is the ‘older’ version of the scheme. The ‘new’ version is the new version of the scheme.

Am I eligible to receive the State Pension?

You may qualify for either the basic or new scheme. In fact, which one you qualify for depends on your date of birth:

Version of State Pension you will receive depending on your gender and date of birth in 2022
Date of birth	Gender	Version of the scheme
Before 6 April 1951	Men	Basic scheme
On or after 6 April 1951	Men	New scheme
Before 6 April 1953	Women	Basic scheme
On or after 6 April 1953	Women	New scheme

You are eligible to receive the basic State Pension if you were born:

Before 6 April 1951 for men ;
Before 6 April 1953 for women.

You may be eligible to receive the new State Pension if you were born on or after:

6 April 1951 for men ;
6 April 1953 for women.

You are eligible to start receiving the benefit when you reach State Pension age.

Important

If you have income coming from things such as a personal pension or a workplace pension, you might still qualify for State Pension. You also might have to pay taxes on your State Pension.

How much will I receive with this benefit?

The earliest date you can start to receive the basic scheme is the day you reach State Pension age. No matter what, your amount received weekly will increase every year. What will determine it is whichever of the following is the highest:

Average percentage growth in wages in Great Britain ;
The percentage growth of prices in the United Kingdom, as indicated by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ;
2.5%.

How much basic State Pension will I receive?

If you receive the full basic scheme, you will be paid £137.60 per week. You may have to pay tax on it.

Disclaimer

In order to qualify for the full amount, you likely will need to have accumulated a total of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits. If you have an inferior number of years, your amount will be less than £137.60. However, you may be able to increase it through paying voluntary National Insurance contributions. To see how many qualifying years you have, check your National Insurance record.

You may receive more than this amount if you:

Are eligible to receive Additional State Pension ;
Delay claiming your State Pension.

If you are married or in a civil partnership, you may be able to increase your benefit. You may receive up to £283.70 weekly.

Furthermore, you might be eligible to inherit some of the benefit from your civil partner or spouse if one of the following is true, you :

Do qualify for the basic scheme ;
Receive less than £137.60 through your basic State Pension.

You may receive the increase if you are a woman. However, you need to either be married to a man, or to a woman who legally changed their gender from male to female during the marriage.

Important

The day on which you receive your payments for the basic version of the scheme depends on your National Insurance number.

State Pension payment day depending on the last 2 digits of your National Insurance number in 2022
The last 2 digits of your National Insurance number	Day that you receive your basic State Pension
00 to 19	Monday
20 to 39	Tuesday
40 to 59	Wednesday
60 to 79	Thursday
80 to 99	Friday

How much is the new State Pension?

If you receive the full new scheme, you will be paid £179.60 per week. The amount you are able to receive is dependent on your National Insurance record.

Important

In most cases, you will require 10 qualifying years on it to get any State Pension. However, the years do not have to be in a row. You need 35 years of contributions to receive the full new State Pension amount.

You qualify if you have done at least one of the following for 10 years, you:

Paid National Insurance contributions and worked ;
Received National Insurance credits (this could be if you were unemployed, ill, a parent or a carer);
Paid voluntary National Insurance contributions.

In certain cases, you may be able to receive more than this amount. This will only be possible if you :

Delay when you will receive the benefit ;
Have additional State Pension over a specific amount.

You may still be eligible for the new version of the scheme if you have lived or worked abroad. Additionally, if you have paid married women’s or widow’s reduced rate contributions, you may also be eligible for the new pension scheme.

Although you do not need to stop working after reaching State Pension age, if you choose to do so, you will not need to pay National Insurance. You are also likely to be eligible for flexible working arrangements.

How do I increase how much State Pension I receive?

After 5 April 2016, each qualifying year on your National Insurance record contributes to increasing your new pension scheme. Indeed, every year adds about £5.13 to your weekly amount. You may calculate the exact amount that each year adds by dividing £179.60 by 35, then multiplying that by the total number of qualifying years after 5 April 2016.

Let’s say that as of 5 April 2016, you have 15 qualifying years on your National Insurance record. To calculate how much money you are entitled to, you will do the following calculation: £179.60 divided by 35, multiplied by 15. As such, you will receive £76,97 weekly from your new pension scheme.

How do I claim State Pension?

You can claim the new version of the benefit online, but not the basic scheme. Additionally, you will also not receive this pension automatically, you must claim it. You can claim the basic scheme by phone or post.

Your Benefits can take care of your administrative tasks for you. We offer this service so that you do not have to worry about claiming benefits and other things. If you want to reduce your bills, you may contact our advisers. Finally, we offer a free simulator that can calculate the total amount of aid you are eligible to earn.

How do I claim the new scheme?

You should receive an invitation letter indicating how to claim your pension no more than 2 months before reaching State Pension age. You do not need to wait for the letter. If you have not received any, or wish to do it sooner, you may claim this pension 4 months before reaching the qualifying age.

If you live in Northern Ireland, you must claim your new scheme a different way. The most effective and quickest way to apply is online. However, you may also apply by post.

How do I claim the basic scheme?

You may not claim the basic scheme online. Instead, you will need to do through one of the following 3 methods:

Calling the State Pension claim line ;
By downloading the claim form, filling it and posting it to your local pension centre;
Claiming from abroad this includes the Channel Islands.

You will be eligible to receive the basic scheme even if you continue working.

What about Additional State Pension?

There is no fixed amount for how much you may be able to receive under this scheme. You can only receive this additional payment with the basic scheme. You may be eligible to receive more depending on:

The number of years that you paid National Insurance ;
Your earnings ;
If you contracted out of the scheme or not ;
If you topped up your basic State Pension or not (only possible between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017).

You do not need to claim this separately. If you are eligible, you will automatically receive it when you apply for the benefit. You will also then know how much you are going to be receiving.