Will you get £13,000 a year when you stop working? Here's how to check
How to find out how much state pension you're likely to receive - and what you can do about it now.
Will you receive £13,000 a year when you stop working? Here’s how to check
It may be many years away, but do you know how much money you’ll get when you retire?
The current state pension is likely soon to rise above £13,000 a year.
Even so, one in eight people surveyed by the UK tax authority have never checked how much they are expected to receive.
Here’s how to find out, and what you can do now to increase it.
If you are working, you are very likely paying into the state pension, which is paid by the government when you reach pension age in your late 60s.
At present, the flat-rate state pension — for people who reached state pension age after April 2016 — is £241.30 a week (£12,547.60 a year). The old basic state pension — for those who reached state pension age before April 2016 — is £184.90 a week (£9,614.80 a year).
Many people on the old basic state pension may also get a top-up known as the additional state pension.
Most pensioners have other income too, mainly from pension savings accumulated during their working lives.
The state pension rises every year by whichever is highest of inflation, wage growth, or 2.5%. That means next April the flat-rate state pension is expected to move above £13,000.
Workers pay National Insurance (NI) contributions. In general, you need 35 years of qualifying contributions to receive the full state pension.
You may have gaps in your NI record if, for example, you have lived abroad. If you have taken time out of work to care for children or family members, you can receive NI credits if you get child benefit or carer’s allowance.
It is possible to improve your contribution record with voluntary payments. Since April 2025, you have only been able to make payments for the previous six years.
That is one reason experts say it is important to check your state pension forecast well before you retire.
You can see what you are forecast to receive:
By downloading the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) app, external
Using the official online state pension forecast webpage, external
To get a state pension, you will need to prove your identity with official photo ID.
Importantly, never click on a link sent in an unsolicited email or text message, even if it appears official, because it could be a scam.
For more general information about tax and pensions, HMRC has launched a Tax Confident website, external.
And the government-funded, independent Money Helper website has a free retirement guidance tool, external, to walk you through the options.
The most common reason given for not checking a state pension forecast was that retirement still felt too far away to worry about, according to a recent HMRC survey of 5,000 consumers.
Losing track of pension pots from previous jobs, and worries about how career breaks might affect entitlement, were also common answers.
People aged 45-54 were the most likely never to have checked.
"Whether retirement is decades away or just around the corner, I'd encourage everyone to check their forecast and see if there's anything they can do now to boost their entitlement later," says Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC's chief customer officer.