State pension age: What is the retirement age in the UK?

Here you will find recent and future changes to the state pension age, so that you know when you can retire.

What is the state pension age and why is it going up?

For decades, the age at which you could receive state pension was 65 for men and 60 for women.

But huge jumps in life expectancy have increased costs for the Treasury, which pays some retirees more years of retirement than they spent on National Insurance as employees.

Admittedly, projections for life expectancy increases have been lower recently, albeit only after rising for several years and likely distorted by the pandemic.

As things stand, the state pension age for men and women is 66 and will rise again to 67 between 2026 and 2028. 57.)

However, the time of the next AOW increase to age 68 remains up in the air.

Officially, it is scheduled between 2044 and 2046, which would affect those born on or after April 1977.

But a previous government review recommended that the change should be brought forward to 2037-2039.

It was rumored that it was considering speeding up the age increase to 2035, hitting those who are now between about 43 and 54 years old – this led to warnings that sick and poor people and carers would bear the brunt.

However, the government has now postponed a decision on raising the state pension age to 68 until after the next general election, likely fearing a strong backlash from voters.

But the reason given is the current uncertainty about data on life expectancy, labor markets and government finances.

A new evaluation will now be carried out, probably in 2026. That means that if the government announces an increase 10 years in advance, an increase to 68 could still take place in 2036.

Former Pensions Secretary Steve Webb, who is now a partner at LCP, adds that there could be a catch as the most recent review argued there should be a 6 percent of GDP ceiling on the overall level of government spending.

“If this rule were introduced, the state pension age would rise from 68 to 69 between 2046 and 2048,” he warns. ‘Everyone born after 1979 would therefore have a retirement age of at least 69 years. With the aging of the population, this new rule would entail a further increase in the state pension age or a reduction in the value of the state pension.

“This would be a draconian policy change that would likely result in today’s younger workers reaching a retirement age of 70 or more.”

The exact date on which you receive state pension depends on the year in which you were born. You can fix this using the state pension calculator.

Why is there controversy about raising the state pension age for women?

Many women born in the 1950s struggle financially as they wait longer than they expected to receive state pension.

A version of plans to equalize state pension ages for men and women was outlined in 1995, when the then Conservative government declared its intention to gradually raise women’s retirement age to 65 between 2010 and 2020.

This was followed in 2007 by an announcement from Labor that both men and women would see their retirement ages rise to 66 between 2024 and 2026.

But in 2011, Chancellor George Osborne brought forward the timing of both changes to 2018 and 2020 respectively, with women being hit particularly hard as their rises occurred both earlier than expected and in rapid succession.

Initially, the revision included a limit of up to two additional years of waiting for state pension benefits, but protests reduced the limit to 18 months.

Some 2.6 million women received an extension of their retirement age just five years in advance.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, or WASPI, says it agrees with the equalization of retirement ages for women and men, but disagrees with the “unfair” way the changes have been implemented. It is fighting for measures to absorb the financial blow.

A separate group, BackTo60, filed a lawsuit, but it was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in September 2020.

The parliamentary ombudsman has since accused the government of ‘maladministration’ for delays in informing women of the changes.

It has now moved on to consider ‘the impact that injustice had’. After that stage of the Ombudsman’s inquiry, he is expected to make recommendations to remedy what happened.

However, it remains unclear whether the government will have to provide some form of compensation to women, many of whom are struggling financially because they were unaware of the delay in receiving state pensions.

Who can receive state pension?

Not everyone is entitled to the full AOW pension, which is a regular benefit from the government until you die. Eligibility depends on meeting certain criteria.

In addition to being of the required age, you must have paid national insurance contributions during your working life, or paid voluntary national insurance, or received credits from the government for years of care or other matters.

Until April 2016, employees had to have paid 30 years of national insurance contributions to get the full state pension, but anyone who retires since then will need 35 years of contributions to get the new flat-rate state pension.

But even if you were to pay in full for 35 years, if you pay out additional AOW entitlements – S2P and Serps – you may still get a few years less.

How much is the state pension?

The basic pension is currently £141.85 per week, or approximately £7,400 per annum. It is complemented by S2P and Serps – if accrued during working years.

It will rise 10.1 per cent in April to £156.20 a week or £8,120 a year.

The two-tier government system was replaced in 2016 by a new ‘flat-rate’ state pension. This is currently worth £185.15 a week or about £9,600 a year, and will rise to £203.85 or £10,600 a year in April.

However, people who have outsourced S2P and Serps over the years get less than this.

The state pension is increased every year according to the triple slot, ie the highest income growth, inflation or 2.5 percent.

However, the government dropped the income element from the 2022-2023 increase, as wage growth was temporarily distorted by the pandemic to more than 8 percent.

It averted a furious reaction from pensioners by confirming the 10.1 percent increase in state pensions from April 2023, based on rapidly rising inflation.

How do you improve your state pension?

Everyone will be given the option of postponing their AOW pension in order to receive more later, and to fill gaps in their NI file or to purchase supplements.

If you deferred in the past, the rules were more relaxed, but if you have reached the state pension age since 2016, you still have the option to increase the state pension for life.

If you postpone for at least nine weeks, your state pension will increase for each week of postponement by 1 percent every nine weeks or 5.8 percent every 52 weeks.

You can also stop applying for AOW after a certain period and you will therefore receive a one-off supplement at the above rates.

If you continue to work after the state pension age, you do not have to continue paying national insurance contributions.

Low-income retirees may be eligible for a pension discount. This increases the weekly income to a minimum of £182.60 for singles and £278.70 for couples.