How much is the state pension in 2026/27?

So, how much is the state pension in 2026/27? The full new State Pension pays up to £241.30 a week, while the basic State Pension - paid to anyone who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 - pays up to £184.90 a week. Which one applies to you depends on your date of birth, not your income or savings.

Both figures are the maximum available. What you actually receive depends on your own National Insurance record, so treat these as the numbers to aim for rather than a guaranteed amount.

If you're not sure which one applies to you, or want to see these figures broken down by four-weekly, monthly and annual amounts, keep reading - we cover both below.

The new State Pension applies if you're a man born on or after 6 April 1951, or a woman born on or after 6 April 1953 - in other words, anyone who reaches State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. The full new State Pension amount is £241.30 a week in 2026/27.

To get the full amount, you need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits on your record. A qualifying year is usually one where you paid, or were credited with, enough National Insurance - through employment, self-employment, or credits for things like caring responsibilities or claiming certain benefits.

You need a minimum of 10 qualifying years to receive any new State Pension at all. Below 10 years, you generally won't qualify for a payment, though there are some exceptions for people who've lived or worked in certain other countries.

If you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years, you'll get a proportion of the full amount rather than the whole £241.30 - we cover exactly how that's calculated, with worked examples, further down this guide.

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 - broadly, men born before 6 April 1951 and women born before 6 April 1953 - you'll usually receive the basic State Pension rather than the new State Pension. The full basic State Pension is £184.90 a week in 2026/27.

The rules are different from the new system. You typically needed 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full basic amount (fewer than the 35 required under the new rules), and some people also built up an Additional State Pension - sometimes called SERPS or the State Second Pension - on top of their basic amount through their National Insurance contributions while employed.

If you're one of the people on the basic State Pension who also has Additional State Pension entitlement, your total weekly amount could be higher than £184.90. Your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK shows your combined figure.

Married women, widows and some divorced people may also be entitled to a basic State Pension based on their spouse's or former spouse's National Insurance record in certain circumstances. This is a common source of confusion, so it's worth checking your own forecast rather than assuming a figure.

State Pension figures are usually quoted weekly, but that's not how the money actually lands in your bank account. The State Pension is paid four-weekly - 13 times a year - rather than on a calendar-monthly basis, which catches out a lot of people expecting 12 equal monthly payments.

Here's how the full weekly rates convert to four-weekly, approximate monthly, and annual figures for both the new and basic State Pension in 2026/27.

The "monthly" figures above are an approximation for comparison purposes only (the weekly amount multiplied by 52, divided by 12) - you won't see this exact figure land in your account, because payments actually arrive every four weeks, not on the same date each calendar month.

Sixty-six is a common age people associate with the State Pension, but it isn't a fixed retirement age for everyone. Your own State Pension age depends on your date of birth and is gradually rising - some people already have a State Pension age of 67, with a further rise to 68 planned for the future. You can check your exact date using the GOV.UK State Pension age checker.

Whatever age you reach State Pension age, the amount you receive doesn't change because of your age - it's determined entirely by your qualifying years of National Insurance contributions, not by how old you are when you start claiming. Someone reaching State Pension age at 66 with 35 qualifying years gets exactly the same £241.30 a week as someone reaching it at 67 or 68 with the same record.

One thing that can increase your amount, regardless of your State Pension age, is deferring your claim - we cover how that works later in this guide.

There's no joint or household State Pension. Each partner in a couple receives their own individual State Pension, based entirely on their own National Insurance record - not their partner's income, savings or combined household finances.

For a single person, the maximum new State Pension is £241.30 a week, exactly as set out above. If both partners in a couple have a full National Insurance record and qualify for the full new State Pension, the combined household total is £482.60 a week (2 x £241.30) - £1,930.40 four-weekly, or £25,095.20 a year.

In practice, many couples receive two different amounts, because one partner's National Insurance record often differs from the other's - commonly because of time spent caring for children or family members, or periods of self-employment with gaps in contributions. If your entitlement is lower than your partner's, it's still calculated on your own record; there's no way to combine or transfer qualifying years between partners.

If you have fewer than 35 qualifying years, you'll usually get a proportion of the full new State Pension rather than the whole amount. The calculation is broadly 1/35 of the full rate for each qualifying year you have, up to the maximum at 35 years.

These worked examples are illustrative only - your own figure depends on the exact details of your National Insurance record, including any years accrued before 2016 under the old rules, so always check your personal forecast for an exact number.

The only way to get an exact personal figure, rather than an illustrative estimate, is to check your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK. It shows your qualifying years to date, your forecast amount, and whether paying voluntary National Insurance contributions could increase it.

It's a common assumption that more qualifying years automatically means more State Pension, but for the new State Pension, that generally isn't true. Once you reach 35 qualifying years, extra years of National Insurance contributions beyond that generally don't increase your weekly amount any further.

There's one notable exception: if you built up an Additional State Pension (SERPS or the State Second Pension) before 6 April 2016, that entitlement is protected and carried into the new system as part of your "starting amount". In some cases this can mean your new State Pension is already above £241.30 a week, or that extra years worked after 2016 continue adding a small amount if your starting amount was below the full rate. This can get genuinely complicated, and a personal forecast is the only reliable way to know where you stand.

If 35 years is already enough for your full entitlement, there are really only two ways to increase your State Pension amount further: paying voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions to fill genuine gaps in earlier years (not to add years beyond 35), or deferring your claim past your State Pension age, which increases your eventual weekly amount in exchange for starting later.

The State Pension increases each April under a mechanism known as the triple lock. Each year, the government raises the State Pension by whichever is highest out of three measures: price inflation (CPI), average earnings growth, or 2.5%.

The £241.30 and £184.90 weekly rates in this guide already reflect the increase applied in April 2026. The next annual review takes effect from April 2027, based on whichever of the three triple lock measures is highest at that point - the exact percentage isn't confirmed until closer to the date.

Whichever of the three measures is highest becomes the increase applied the following April. Because the rates in this guide change annually, always check GOV.UK or your own forecast for the current figures rather than relying on last year's numbers.

No. The State Pension itself is not means-tested, so your savings, other pension income, or any earnings you have don't reduce the amount you receive. Whether you get £241.30 a week or a lower proportional amount depends purely on your National Insurance qualifying years.

The confusion usually comes from Pension Credit, a separate benefit for people on a low income in retirement. Pension Credit is means-tested - your income and savings are taken into account, and having significant savings can reduce or remove your entitlement to it. If you're unsure whether Pension Credit applies to you, MoneyHelper (0800 138 7777) offers impartial guidance on benefits and retirement income, and Citizens Advice can also help you check your entitlement.

It's worth understanding this distinction clearly: your State Pension amount and your Pension Credit entitlement are calculated completely differently, and boosting one doesn't affect the other.

For most people, the State Pension alone falls short of a comfortable retirement income. Even the full new State Pension of £241.30 a week (£12,547.60 a year) is generally below what retirement planners consider a moderate standard of living for a single person, let alone a comfortable one.

This is where pension advice becomes genuinely useful. If you have a workplace or personal pension alongside your State Pension, understanding how workplace and personal pensions work - and how much you might need from them - helps you see the full picture rather than focusing on the State Pension in isolation.

If you've built up several pensions across different jobs over the years, consolidating your pensions can make them easier to track and manage, though it isn't always the right move - it depends on the charges, benefits and guarantees attached to each existing pension. Understanding pension drawdown vs annuity is also worth exploring well before you plan to retire, since each option affects how - and how reliably - your income arrives.

For homeowners, equity release is sometimes used to close a retirement income gap by releasing money from the value of your home. A common question is does equity release affect my pension - releasing equity generally doesn't reduce your State Pension amount, though it can affect means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, so it's worth checking your own position carefully. Equity release is a lifetime mortgage. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it. It's not a decision to take without independent advice.

If you'd like to compare the best pension providers for a workplace or personal pension, or simply want a clearer picture of your retirement income options, you can access expert advice with no pressure to proceed. If you're worried about managing on a low income now, MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk, 0800 138 7777) is a good independent first step.