The State Pension rate for 2026/27 is £241.30 a week for the full new State Pension; what you get depends on your National Insurance record.
Under the older system the full basic State Pension is £184.90 a week. Few people's figure is exactly either amount: yours turns on how many qualifying years you have and, if you worked before April 2016, on how that earlier record was valued. The free government forecast gives your exact number. Questions about your claim or payments go to the Pension Service; Pension Wise, which offers people over 50 a free appointment, does not cover the State Pension. Once you know your figure, the harder part is fitting it together with a workplace or personal pension and your tax bill. That jigsaw is one an FCA-authorised adviser is well placed to help assemble; the short form on this page, just a handful of boxes, prompts one to ring you, and costs nothing to send.
What is the State Pension rate for 2026/27?
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) table Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, updated 16 February 2026, sets these full weekly rates:
- £241.30: full new State Pension. For women born from 6 April 1953 and men born from 6 April 1951.
- £184.90: full basic State Pension (Category A or B). For anyone born before those dates.
- £110.75: Category B (lower) basic pension. Paid on the National Insurance of a spouse or civil partner.
Treat these as the benchmark, not a promise. DWP's own explainer is plain that not everyone will get the full new amount, since each person's depends on their record, and some people receive more than £241.30. Which of the two systems covers you is set by your date of birth alone; the new and old State Pension compared goes through the differences, and the UK State Pension guide covers the basics.
How much State Pension will I get? Four questions to place yourself
Your amount is built from your National Insurance record. The forecast does the arithmetic for you; these four questions show why it lands where it does.
1. Do you have at least 10 qualifying years?
DWP says you will normally need 10 qualifying years to receive any new State Pension, and that they may come from either side of 6 April 2016 and need not run consecutively. A year qualifies when you paid National Insurance on your earnings, were credited with it (GOV.UK gives being out of work, ill, or looking after children or another person as examples), or paid voluntary contributions. Fall short of 10, and years spent paying into some other countries' state pensions may still get you over the line; see the questions at the end of this page.
2. Did your record start after April 2016?
Then the sum is straightforward. GOV.UK says 35 qualifying years earn the full rate where a National Insurance record only began after April 2016, and each qualifying year added after 6 April 2016 increases the amount, up to the £241.30 ceiling. DWP points out, though, that most people will have made, or been credited with, contributions before that date, so for most readers the third question matters more.
3. Were you building a record before 6 April 2016?
Then your new State Pension did not begin at nothing. DWP calculated a "starting amount" from your record as it stood in April 2016, taking the higher of two valuations: one on the old rules, one as if the new scheme had applied throughout your working life. Both allow for any time you were contracted out. If you meet the 10-year minimum, DWP says the new rules make sure what you get for contributions up to April 2016 is no less than the old scheme would have given. What contracting out meant explains the deduction.
4. Where does your starting amount sit against £241.30?
| Starting amount | What happens next (DWP) |
|---|---|
| Under the full rate | Every qualifying year added after 5 April 2016 lifts it by a set amount, until it meets the full rate or you reach State Pension age, whichever is sooner. |
| Equal to the full rate | You receive the full new State Pension at State Pension age. |
| Over the full rate | You keep the higher figure. DWP says this can happen with some Additional State Pension; the part above the full rate is your protected payment. |
How big is that amount? DWP's guide, updated 6 April 2026, still illustrates it with 2025/26 figures: about £6.89 a week per year, which is that year's full rate of £230.25 divided by 35. The full rate for 2026/27 is £241.30. The excess-over-full-rate case is explained in the State Pension protected payment and the Additional State Pension.
Under the older basic system, GOV.UK sets the years needed for the full amount by year of birth, and says fewer than that number means a basic pension below £184.90 a week; the year counts are set out in the comparison of the two systems.
Knowing where you fall in that table tells you something about the rest of your retirement income: how much your private or workplace pensions need to cover, and how they will be taxed on top of this. If you would rather talk that over with an FCA-authorised adviser on the telephone, jot your number in the enquiry form and expect a ring back.
What can still change your amount before you claim?
Until you reach State Pension age, three things can move your figure.
- Adding qualifying years. GOV.UK lists three routes: carrying on working and paying National Insurance up to State Pension age, receiving National Insurance credits, and paying voluntary contributions to fill gaps. An added year helps only while you are below the full rate. DWP adds that you can have some gaps and still get the full new State Pension, so a gap does not automatically mean a smaller pension. See finding and fixing missing years, National Insurance credits, voluntary contributions and what Class 3 contributions cost.
- A contracted-out past. Where you were contracted out, the full rate usually takes more than 35 qualifying years, GOV.UK says. The contracted-out years themselves still count as qualifying years; they are not gaps.
- Putting off your claim. Deferring increases the weekly amount for every week you wait, provided you wait at least 9 weeks, and GOV.UK puts the rise at just under 5.8% for each year. Whether that is worth it is weighed up in should I defer my State Pension? and the exact increase in the deferral increase.
How much does the State Pension go up each year?
GOV.UK says the new State Pension "increases each year by whichever is the highest" of three measures: average wage growth in Great Britain, price inflation in the UK on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or 2.5%. That test is usually called the triple lock, and the basic State Pension rises by the same test. The effect shows in DWP's table: between 2025/26 and 2026/27 the full new rate went from £230.25 to £241.30 a week and the full basic rate from £176.45 to £184.90.
Two parts follow a different rule. GOV.UK says a protected payment is uprated by the CPI every year instead of by the three-way test. And extra State Pension earned by deferring will usually increase each year in line with inflation after you claim, according to DWP. How the yearly figure is chosen is in what the triple lock is and April's State Pension increase; a deferred pension's position is in deferred State Pension and the triple lock.
Where do you find your own State Pension figure?
In the government's Check your State Pension service. DWP describes it as personalised: your State Pension age, an estimate of what you may get at that point, whether you can increase it, and your National Insurance contribution history, which lets you count your own qualifying years against the 10 and the 35. GOV.UK says the forecast is also in the HMRC app. The online forecast is not available to anyone already receiving their State Pension or who has deferred it; their questions go to the Pension Service (or, from outside the UK, the International Pension Centre). After you have claimed, your award letter shows what you will get.
DWP calls the figure an estimate, and qualifying years added before State Pension age can raise it while it is below the full rate. Getting your State Pension forecast walks through the steps, how accurate a forecast is covers mistakes on a record, and the State Pension age shows when payments can begin.
The State Pension rate in everyday terms
How much is the full State Pension a month or a year?
DWP publishes the rate weekly: £241.30 for the full new State Pension in 2026/27. The new State Pension usually arrives every 4 weeks rather than monthly. Your forecast and, once you have claimed, your award letter show your own amount.
Will my State Pension start automatically?
No. GOV.UK says you have to claim the new State Pension; it is not paid automatically. It adds that claiming works differently from Northern Ireland or from abroad, including the Channel Islands. When your State Pension is paid covers the first payment.
Can I get the State Pension while I am still working?
Yes. GOV.UK says you can claim the new State Pension even if you carry on working, or you can put the claim off to increase it. National Insurance after State Pension age covers what you pay if you keep working.
Can years worked abroad count?
They can help you meet the minimum. GOV.UK says that with fewer than 10 UK qualifying years you could still be eligible if you paid into the state pension of a European Economic Area country, Switzerland or a country with a UK social security agreement, because that time can be added to your UK years. The amount you are actually paid, though, is based only on your UK qualifying years. The International Pension Centre can advise, and the UK State Pension abroad has more.
Can a husband's, wife's or civil partner's record add to mine?
Normally not under the new system, which works from your own National Insurance record. GOV.UK does say that some people can inherit State Pension from a spouse or civil partner, or increase their own through one; claiming on a spouse's record sets out when.
The State Pension is the one piece of retirement income the government calculates for you. What you draw from your other pensions, and when, is your decision; if a second view from an FCA-authorised adviser would help before you make it, this page's short form, once sent, leads to a telephone conversation without charge.
Sources
- DWP, Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, updated 16 February 2026
- DWP, Your State Pension explained, updated 6 April 2026
- GOV.UK, The new State Pension and The basic State Pension, read 22 October 2026
- GOV.UK, Check your State Pension forecast, read 22 October 2026
- GOV.UK, Personal pensions: get help, read 22 October 2026