State Pension Age Calculator
What's the State Pension?
The State Pension's a regular payment from the government, that you may receive once you reach the State Pension age, to help support you in retirement. Currently both men and women can claim this from the age of 66, but for those born after 5 April 1960, it'll rise gradually each month and by one month at a time, until it reaches 67 in April 2028. It'll eventually rise to 68, affecting those born after April 1977.
You'll need to have 10 years of National Insurance Contributions to receive the minimum amount of State Pension and 35 'qualifying' years to receive the maximum amount.
Skip to calculatorWhat if I want to retire before my State Pension age?
The age you can claim your State Pension has risen significantly since 2010 when the entitlement age was previously 60 for women and 65 for men.
A recent survey by PensionBee revealed that the 'ideal retirement age' for British workers is 60, despite this being some time before they'd be able to receive their State Pension. Meanwhile, the healthy life expectancy (the number of years you can expect to live in good health) for workers in the UK is 63, suggesting a potential pension gap for people who might want or need to retire earlier than their State Pension age. Someone who wants to retire before they can access their State Pension will need to provide their own income for the years in between. This is defined by PensionBee as the 'Pre-State Pension Gap' - the total amount of income someone would need to maintain a minimum, moderate or comfortable lifestyle in retirement before they're eligible to receive their State Pension.
Please see 'Standards of living in retirement' below for information about what each lifestyle means in practice.
How much will I need to save to combat the Pre-State Pension Gap?
For example, someone who wishes to retire at 60, assuming their State Pension age is 68 and they're retiring as a couple, would need to make provisions for the eight years before their State Pension entitlement. In order to live a moderate lifestyle, they'd need to have saved enough to generate an income of £136,000 to support them during this eight-year gap.
How much do I need to save in total for my retirement?
Looking at the average life expectancy for women (88) and men (85), a woman retiring at 60 in a couple would need a combined retirement income with her partner of £476,000 for her 28 years of expected retirement, to live a moderate lifestyle.
Assuming she would receive the full State Pension from 68, £212,000 of this total would come from her State Pension payments and the remaining £264,000 would need to be generated by the couple's workplace or personal pensions and other savings.
Calculate your State Pension age*
*Please note that for those born after 5 April 1960, the State Pension age will rise gradually each month, by one month at a time, until it reaches 67 in April 2028.
For example, if your birthday is between 6 June and 5 July 1960, you need to add three additional months to the calculation above, to give a State Pension age of 66 and three months (reached in October 2026).
If your birthday is between 6 September and 5 October 1960, you need to add six months giving a State Pension Age of 66 and six months (reached in March 2027).
Those born after 5 April 1961 will reach the new State Pension Age of 67 on their 67th birthday.
Those born after 5 April 1977 will be impacted by the State Pension Age rise to 68.
Calculate your 'Pre-State Pension Gap'
As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice. The calculations on this page are based on our current understanding of legislation and various assumptions which may not be realised.
Standards of living in retirement
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association's (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards indicate the amount of annual income required to achieve certain lifestyles in retirement:
This covers all the essentials, with some disposable income left over. It allows one long weekend and one week-long holiday in the UK each year. There's a £630 budget for clothing and shoes per year, and you could afford some small home DIY improvements.
This amount offers some more flexibility. You could treat yourself to meals out a few times a month, enjoy a fortnight abroad in Europe, plus a long weekend away in the UK. You could spend £1500 per year on clothes and shoes and even replace a three-year-old car every 7 years. You'd be able to get some help with home improvements and decorating rather than relying on DIY.
A comfortable lifestyle could let you regularly dine out and spend three weeks abroad in Europe per year. The clothing and footwear budget is £1,500 each year, cars can be replaced every five years and kitchens and bathrooms every 10-15 years.
The most asked questions about the State Pension
After looking at the most googled questions in the UK around the State Pension, these are the top 10 questions that Brits are searching:
The full New State Pension for 2024/25 is £11,502 per year which is equivalent to £221.20 a week. The basic State Pension is £8,814 per year, equivalent to £169.50 per week.
You'll receive the State Pension once you reach your State Pension age. For people born before 5 April 1960, their State Pension age is 66. For everyone born after this date, their State Pension age is increasing to 67 and will eventually increase to 68.
There's no longer a special State Pension arrangement for married couples. Each person will receive their own State Pension entitlement individually.
The State Pension's a regular payment you receive from the government once you reach your State Pension age to help fund your life in retirement.
To receive the full State Pension payment, you must have paid 35 years' worth of National Insurance contributions over your working life. To receive the minimum State Pension, you must have paid 10 years' worth of contributions.
It should be noted that the State Pension is not enough to cover even the minimum lifestyle reported by the PLSA and most people are predicted to achieve the minimum standard through a combination of the State Pension and other private or workplace pensions.
If you've never worked, and therefore have never paid National Insurance contributions, you may still be eligible for a State Pension if you've received certain state benefits like Universal Credit or a carer's allowance.
The State Pension age depends on when you were born. Use our calculator above to find out what your State Pension age is.
You can contact the Pension Service to find out about your State Pension eligibility, claims and payments online, over the phone or by post. You may be able to claim backdated National Insurance credits for missing years to give your State Pension a boost.
You should receive a letter in the post three months ahead of reaching your State Pension age. You can also claim your State Pension over the phone up to four months before you reach State Pension age.
You won't automatically receive your State Pension, you'll need to claim it online, by phone or by post.
There's no longer a different State Pension age for men and women. Both will either reach the State Pension age at 66 or 67/68, depending on when they were born.
Methodology:
The 'Pre-State Pension Gap''s defined as the total income someone needs to live a minimum, moderate or comfortable lifestyle in retirement before they're eligible to receive their State Pension.
All standards of living are based on The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association's (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards.
Users can discover their future State Pension age by inputting their date of birth.
To build the Pre-State Pension Gap Calculator, we created a formula that takes the user's gender, their current pension pot size, their annual contribution amount and their ideal retirement age. An assumed 5% annual investment growth and 0.7% annual pension fees are then both applied.
The calculator generates the user's 'Pre-State Pension Gap' which is the total amount required to live a minimum, moderate and comfortable lifestyle in retirement, both on their own or within a couple, in the years before their State Pension entitlement.
All annual income requirements for a couple are halved to assume a 50/50 contribution in retirement and two lots of State Pension to meet these three living standards.
The calculator also highlights any shortfalls in the ability to meet the three living standards during this gap.
The 10 most googled questions were sourced from ahrefs (a keyword and backlink analysis tool) on 22 March 2023 and duplicated questions were omitted.
The example calculations are for demonstrative purposes and assume someone wanting a 'moderate' lifestyle in retirement and retiring in a couple, therefore requiring an income of £17,000 a year according to the PLSA.
The average life expectancy for males is 85.