Men can claim a State Pension when they are 65 if they have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. Women's pension age is due to increase from 60 to 65.
Men need to have 44 years' worth of NI contributions to get a full basic State Pension and women who reach 60 before 2010 need to have clocked up 39 years.
But the age at which women can start to claim the State Retirement Pension changes from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020 so the number of qualifying years a woman needs will gradually increase to 44 years. (You can find out when you will qualify for a pension at the Pension Service website.)
- You will almost certainly have paid
contributions if you have been in full-time paid work and earning a
reasonable wage.
- You will almost certainly be
considered to be paying contributions (even though you haven't actually
paid any money) if you are registered as unemployed or - since 1978 - if you are caring for young children or an invalid.
- If you are self employed then you
are legally required to pay NI contributions.
Common reasons why people may not have the full qualifying contributions are:
- time spent working overseas
- time spent out of work but not
registered as unemployed or with children to care for
- earning too little to pay National
Insurance contributions. Currently National Insurance contributions are only paid if you earn more than £84 a week - (the so-called Lower Earnings Limit 2006-2007 figure). If you earn below this (and lower figures in earlier years) then you will not be making National Insurance contributions. Each job is counted seperately so you can earn more than the lower earnings limit from two part time jobs but still not pay National Insurance
- married women who have chosen in the past to pay
reduced National Insurance contributions - the so-called 'small stamp' - will not qualify for a pension in those years. Instead they are dependent on their husband's pension entitlement.
You can defer getting your state pension, so that you can get either a lump sum payment or a bigger pension when you claim it. There is more detail here on the Pensions Service website.
You can get a forecast of your pensions entitlement here.
For more about the State Pension see the Pension Service website.
