Get a State Pension forecast
The three different types of pension schemes in the UK are the State Pension, workplace pensions and personal (or private) pensions. You may have accrued benefits in each of these pension schemes, or none of them, depending on your personal circumstances.
In order to plan successfully for your retirement, you may want to consider what income you’ll reasonably expect to receive from your pensions. One method of measuring your anticipated retirement income is using the government’s State Pension forecast tool.
You can check your State Pension forecast and find out:
- How much State Pension income you’ll receive
- How you could increase your forecast payment amount
- When you’ll become eligible to receive payments.
How accurate are State Pension forecasts?
Your State Pension forecast will be accurate at the point of submitting your information, although future adjustments to State Pension benefits may alter your projection by the time you retire. The forecast should be regarded as a guide, not a guarantee.
Even the State Pension ‘triple lock‘ guarantee, which means that each April the amount increases by the greater of September’s price inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%, isn’t guaranteed to remain in place.
What if there’s a shortfall in my projected State Pension forecast?
If your State Pension forecast is lower than you’d hoped, you can take action by:
- Making voluntary contributions to catch up on any ‘lost years’ on your National Insurance record
- Focus your efforts on boosting your private pensions (like a personal or workplace pension).
What about private pension forecasts?
There are similar tools for personal pensions too. You can enter your current pension balance and find out how much you’re projected to have at retirement, and see what a one-off lump sum or personal monthly contribution could do to improve your projection.
Use our pension calculator to find out your pension forecast!
Risk warning
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.
Last edited: 06-04-2024
