Will I Qualify For The Full State Pension?

Although most of us will qualify for some form of State Pension, not all will be given the full amount. A State pension forecast shows you how much you will receive when your each State Pension Age. This helps you assess if you need to top up your savings or other pension options to give you a comfortable retirement.

What happens next?

Once we have received your online enquiry, we will start calculating how much you will receive at your State Pension Age.We will email to let you know the results of our research. What is the StatePension Forecast Based on? The new State pension scheme is based on the number of qualifying years that you have worked, you will have to have worked for 35 years to benefit for a full new State pension. This is assessed by theNational Insurance (NI) contributions you have made out of your salary over the years. Some individuals may have had salary gaps if they were on benefits, were carers or stopped work to look after children. These individuals are often given “credits” so that they don’t miss out on periods when they were not able to work.

What Information will a State Pension Forecast give?

The forecast can be useful in many ways. Although primarily designed to estimate a qualifying pension, it may also help you better plan your retirement according to your needs. It may, for example, show:

An assessment of the pension you may qualify for based on current records, whether you were contracted out in the past, and whether you have a ‘protected payment’ (which is the additional state pension benefits built up before 2016) and an estimate of how many more future qualifying years are needed (if any) for maximum new State pension.

This can give a useful snapshot of how much the state will contribute to your retirement income.

Why is a State Pension Forecast useful?

Getting a forecast can help you better plan for retirement or allow you to make an extra push to save so that you have more income after you retire.

Did you know, as the State pension age is changing most people will not be entitled to receive this until they reach age 67.  You can still defer your new State pension if you do not need to take this at yourState pension age. For each year you defer you’ll get just under a 5.8%increase in your State pension (compared to 10.4% under the old system).

Think about whether you could live comfortably in retirement on £175.20 per week which is the current new State pension maximum limit in 2020/2021.  

What to do if your State Pension falls short?

If you cannot boost your state pension any further or your retirement spending budget shows that this will not give you enough to meet your financial needs, then you may want to look at other retirement planning options. Using alternative pensions earlier in life and boosting tax free savings later may be worth looking at.