State Pension On a Low or High Income

Your State Pension should not be affected by your retirement income, whether it is high or low. Your State Pension entitlement is based on your National Insurance record which will indicate how many years you have made National Insurance contributions. You make contributions automatically when you are working and earning, or you may be credited with having made them. For more information on this topic see The Basic State Pension. If your National Insurance record shows that you have made contributions for ninety percent of your working life, you will be entitled to a full basic State Pension, currently £87.30 a week.

You will be entitled to this same basic State Pension if you earned a lot of money or did not earn much money: what is important is that you made the contributions, not how much you were earning at the time. If you have a high retirement income, you may be required to pay more tax than someone on a low income. For more information on this topic see State Pension Tax. If on the other hand you have a low retirement income, you may be entitled to state benefits to help you cover your expenses, as detailed in State Benefits. If you have a low retirement income you may also be exempt from paying any tax. See State Pension Tax for more information. If you are have questions regarding your State Pension, contact the Pension Service on 0845 606 0265.