State pension question

davide691

I received a SP forecast a year or so back. 26 qualifying years for full basic SP, worth £93 a week + £17 additional SP. I’m 45, and know that the number of qualifying years for full pension is now 35, and retirement age is 68. Does anyone know what I can expect to get? I think it’s £144 a week in today’s money, all in, including basic + additional SP. Any help very gratefully received!

Linton

If and when the current proposals are implemented, your pension earned to date (currently £110) will be compared with the amount you would have got under the new scheme (currently 26/35 * £144 = £106).

The larger of the two values will be taken as your "foundation amount", in your case £110. This will be incremented each year after you retire by £144/35 until the standard limit of £144 is reached. So in your case you will become eligible for your £144 with around 34 years NI.

davide691

Linton - thanks! My SP forecast was actually based on contributions to April 2012, so foundation amount will be higher (i.e., £131 by 2016). Key point is, assuming no further rule changes, my pension will be no higher than £144 a week, but I will likely need fewer than 35 years NI to qualify?

xylophone

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181237/single-tier-pension-fact-sheet.pdf