State Pension Overview
1 Basic State Pension Overview
This guide applies to you if you’re:
- a man born before 6 April 1951
- a woman born before 6 April 1953
If you were born on or after the dates above see the guide to claiming the New State Pension instead.
You reached State Pension age before 6 April 2018
The basic State Pension is a regular payment from the government that you can get if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2018. To get it you must have paid or been credited with National Insurance contributions. The most you can currently get is £156.20 per week. You might also be eligible for Pension Tax Relief. The basic State Pension increases every year by whichever is the highest of the following:
- earnings – the average percentage growth in wages (in Great Britain)
- prices – the percentage growth in prices in the UK as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
- 2.5%
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0