State Pension Credits & what you get

State pension credits

You need to earn at least £120 a week to get a State Pension.

Having a Personal Government Gateway is very important to keep track of your pay and State Pension details.

If you earn at least £120 a week (£6,240 a year) - (£533 a month or £6,396 from 6.4.22), or are receiving working tax credit, you'll be making National Insurance contributions to the state pension. Also this applies if you're self-employed, and paying what's known as Class 2 National Insurance contributions.

You do not need to be earning regularly but if your earnings in the tax year are over £6240 a year (i.e you might get 3 payments a year that total £6500) then you will get a years tax credit towards your pension.

The best way to check on your State Pension eligibility is to set up a Personal Government Gateway which shows you the amount of years credits you have, your retirement age and what you can expect. This Gateway also will show earnings whether employed or self employed, tax codes and other income information.

Personal Government Gateway link - https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

If you are in receipt of a Pension then you will receive from your Provider each year an “Annual Statement” showing your contributions for the year and what you will get at different retirement ages. These are usually found on an on-line account they will ask you to set up and it is advisable to look each year to ensure the contributions as if you leave checking on your pension amounts until you retire it is really hard to correct mistakes that occurred 20 years ago.