How to calculate your State Pension

While many in the UK can look forward to a State pension in later life, not everyone is eligible for the full amount. In this article, we'll look at how you can work out how much you can expect to receive from your State pension.

How much State pension will I get?

The amount of State pension you’ll receive is based on your National Insurance Contribution history. Every year you’ve made National Insurance payments, either through working and earning over certain amounts or claiming certain benefits from the government, counts towards the amount you’ll be able to claim when you reach state pension age. This is what is referred to as a qualifying year.

The maximum amount you can currently claim is £179.60 per week. You can currently claim your state pension at 66 (this will rise and is expected to be 67 by 2028) and can only claim as long as you have at least 10 qualifying years. To claim the maximum amount, you’ll need 35 qualifying years.

You need 35 years of National Insurance contributions to qualify for the full State pension.

How do I work out what I’m currently scheduled to get?

You can visit the government's State pension calculator to check your National Insurance Contribution record and when you can claim it. You can also get information on how you could add some qualifying years to boost your state pension income.

If you already know how many years you have, a quick way to roughly estimate what you’ll receive is to divide £179.60 by 35 and then multiply by the number of years you’ve made National Insurance Contributions. It’s probably best to check your records, however, just to make sure you’re not over (or under) estimating how many years you've accumulated.