News: Changes to State pension age

As you may know, changes are being made to the State Pension age.  These changes will start to take effect from April 2010.

State Pension age is the earliest age at which you can claim your State Pension.

Currently, the State Pension age is 65 for men and 60 for women born before 6 April 1950.  However, the State Pension age for women born on or after 6 April 1950 will gradually increase from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020.

The State Pension age for men and women will further increase from 65 to 68 years between 2024 and 2046. This will affect anyone born on or after 6 April 1959. 

If you need to know when somebody will receive their state pension there is a really simple tool on The Pension Service website.  Click here for a link.  Why not "Add to favourites" in your internet browser?  Just call us if you need any help with this.

If you already receive the State pension

If you already receive the State Pension or will reach State Pension age before 6 April 2010, these changes will not affect you very much. One change that will affect you is that the basic State Pension will increase in line with earnings from 2012 at the earliest. This means it should rise more quickly each year than it does now.

The basic State Pension is the retirement income you can claim once you have reached State Pension age if you have paid or been credited with sufficient National Insurance contributions during your working life.

Other State Pension changes

Key changes to the basic State Pension for people reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 are:

• reducing the number of qualifying years needed for a full basic State Pension to 30
  
• any number of qualifying years will give entitlement to at least some basic State Pension, this can be achieved through paid or ‘credited' National Insurance contributions