The full new State Pension pays £241.30 per week (£12,547.60 per year) for the 2026/27 tax year if you have 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions.1GOV.UK. Benefit and Pension Rates 2026 to 2027 Most people receive less. How much State Pension you will get depends on how many qualifying years you have built up, whether you were ever contracted out of the additional State Pension, and whether you choose to defer claiming. The only reliable way to see your personal figure is to check your forecast, but the rules below explain why the number lands where it does.
Qualifying Years Set the Amount
The new State Pension applies to anyone reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and is calculated almost entirely from your National Insurance record.2Legislation.gov.uk. Pensions Act 2014 – Schedule 1 You need at least 10 qualifying years to receive anything, and 35 qualifying years for the full rate.3GOV.UK. The New State Pension – Eligibility Between those two figures, the amount is proportional. Roughly £6.89 per week for each qualifying year, since the full rate of £241.30 is divided across 35 years.
A qualifying year is one where you paid National Insurance on earnings above the lower earnings limit, received National Insurance credits, or made voluntary contributions.3GOV.UK. The New State Pension – Eligibility Credits cover periods of unemployment, illness, or time as a parent or carer, so years out of paid work aren’t automatically gaps. Many people accrue credits without noticing through Child Benefit registration or claiming certain benefits.
One boundary worth flagging: if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you fall under the older basic State Pension scheme, which pays a maximum of £184.90 per week (£9,614.80 per year) for 2026/27 and uses different rules.1GOV.UK. Benefit and Pension Rates 2026 to 2027 The rest of this article is about the new State Pension.
Contracting Out Can Reduce the Figure
If you were ever contracted out of the additional State Pension through a workplace or personal pension, your new State Pension will be reduced. Contracting out meant you paid lower National Insurance during that period, with the difference going into your workplace pension instead.4GOV.UK. Contracted Out of the Additional State Pension – How Contracting Out Affects Your Amount The size of the deduction depends on how long you were contracted out and what you earned then.
This catches many people off guard. You can have a clean 35-year record and still receive less than £241.30 per week because of contracting-out deductions applied when your starting amount was calculated in April 2016. Your forecast will show the reduced figure but won’t always spell out the reason. If the number looks lower than you expected, contracting out is almost certainly why.
Filling Gaps With Voluntary Contributions
If your record has gaps, you can pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions to plug them. The 2025/26 rate is £17.75 per week, or roughly £923 for a full year.5GOV.UK. Voluntary National Insurance – Rates Each extra qualifying year adds about £6.89 per week to your pension, which comes to roughly £358 per year in additional income for the rest of your life. For most people the payback period is under three years.
There is a strict time limit. You can normally only pay for gaps in the previous six tax years, with the deadline falling on 5 April each year.6GOV.UK. Voluntary National Insurance – How and When to Pay Check your forecast before paying anything. If you already have 35 qualifying years, or will reach 35 through future employment before State Pension age, buying extra years won’t raise your payment by a penny.
How the Triple Lock Changes the Rate Each Year
The rates for the 2026/27 tax year, running from April 2026, are:
- New State Pension (full rate): £241.30 per week / £12,547.60 per year
- Basic State Pension (Category A or B): £184.90 per week / £9,614.80 per year
These are the maximums for each scheme.1GOV.UK. Benefit and Pension Rates 2026 to 2027 The pension rises each April under the triple lock, a commitment to increase payments by the highest of three measures: average earnings growth, Consumer Price Index inflation, or 2.5%. The 2026/27 increase was 4.8%, driven by earnings.
The triple lock is a policy commitment rather than a legal guarantee. The statutory minimum requires the government to uprate the pension at least in line with earnings; the triple lock goes further by also benchmarking against inflation and the 2.5% floor.7House of Commons Library. State Pension Triple Lock A future government could drop it without changing the law.
Check Your Personal Forecast
The quickest way to find out what you will actually get is the Check your State Pension tool on GOV.UK.8GOV.UK. Check Your State Pension Forecast Sign in through GOV.UK One Login or Government Gateway. The tool shows your State Pension age, your projected weekly amount, how many qualifying years you have, and whether paying for gaps would increase your pension.
If you can’t use the online service, you can request a postal forecast using Form BR19.9GOV.UK. Application for a State Pension Forecast You must be at least 16 and more than 30 days from your State Pension age. The online tool gives an instant result; postal requests take roughly two to four weeks.
Cross-check the forecast against your National Insurance record. Gaps often surface during periods of living abroad or working in roles that fell below the earnings threshold. Spotting them early gives you time to buy voluntary years while they’re still within the six-year window.
Your State Pension Age Affects When It Starts
The State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028, affecting anyone born after April 1960.10GOV.UK. State Pension Age Review Published The change is gradual, so your exact date depends on your birthday. If you were born before 6 April 1960, your State Pension age stays at 66. Check your personal date using the free GOV.UK tool, because the government does not start paying automatically when you reach the right age. You have to submit a claim.
Tax on Your State Pension
The State Pension counts as taxable income, though no tax is deducted before it reaches your account.11UK Parliament. Taxation of State Pension If your total income from all sources stays below the personal allowance, you owe nothing. The personal allowance is frozen at £12,570 until at least April 2028, and the 2025 Budget extended that freeze through April 2031.
The full new State Pension for 2026/27 is £12,547.60 per year, only £22.40 below the personal allowance.1GOV.UK. Benefit and Pension Rates 2026 to 2027 If the triple lock keeps delivering annual increases while the allowance stays frozen, the full State Pension will soon exceed the tax-free threshold on its own. Anyone with even a small private pension, part-time earnings, or savings interest on top is already in scope for income tax. HMRC usually collects this by adjusting the tax code on your other pension or employment income.
Deferring for a Higher Weekly Amount
You don’t have to claim as soon as you reach State Pension age. For every year you delay, your weekly payment increases by just under 5.8%, provided you defer for at least nine consecutive weeks.12GOV.UK. The New State Pension – How to Increase Your Retirement Income On the full 2026/27 rate, that’s roughly an extra £14 per week for each year of deferral.
Deferral works if you’re still earning, have other income to live on, and expect to draw the pension for many years afterward. The breakeven point is roughly 17 to 18 years past the point you start claiming. If you’re in poor health or need the money now, deferring rarely pays off.