State Pension in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, State Pension is paid by the Northern Ireland Pension Centre, part of the Department for Communities.

New or basic State Pension

The new State Pension was introduced on 6 April 2016. It is for a man born on or after 6 April 1951 or a woman born on or after 6 April 1953. If you were born earlier, you get the basic State Pension instead. You can still receive it if you have other income like a personal or workplace pension, and you can claim it even if you carry on working.

How many qualifying years you need

You will need 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any new State Pension. You’ll need 35 qualifying years to get the new full State Pension if you don’t have a National Insurance record before 6 April 2016. You may get less than the new full State Pension if you were contracted out before 6 April 2016.

You may still get a qualifying year if you earn between £129 and £242 a week from one employer, even though you pay no National Insurance. Credits for caring, illness or unemployment count too. See National Insurance in Northern Ireland.

The basic State Pension

For a man born before 6 April 1951 or a woman born before 6 April 1953, the basic State Pension applies. To get the basic State Pension you must have paid or been credited with National Insurance contributions. The most you can currently get is £184.90 per week. The basic State Pension increases every year by whichever is highest of earnings growth, price growth (CPI) or 2.5 per cent. You may also have Additional State Pension on top.

How to claim

You will not get your State Pension automatically - you have to claim it. You should get a letter no later than two months before you reach State Pension age, telling you what to do. If you have not received an invitation letter, but you are within three months of reaching your State Pension age you can still make a claim.

The quickest way to get your State Pension is to apply online. You can also claim by phone, or ask the Northern Ireland Pension Centre for a paper form. You will never be asked for your bank details by text, social media or email.

Deferring your State Pension

You can put off claiming to get more later. For every nine weeks you defer, you’ll get one per cent added to your regular weekly pension payment for life. This works out as just under 5.8 per cent for every 52 weeks (12 months) you defer. If you defer for 52 weeks, you’ll get an extra £13.94 a week (5.8 per cent of £241.30).

You must defer claiming your State Pension for at least nine weeks before you can claim increased regular payments. You can only claim a one-off arrears payment of up to 52 weeks: deferring the full new State Pension for 52 weeks gives a one-off arrears payment of £12,547.60.

You cannot build up extra State Pension during any period you get Pension Credit, Widow’s Pension or Widowed Parent’s Allowance, or while your partner gets Pension Credit. Deferring can also affect benefits such as Housing Benefit. See deferring a State Pension.

If your husband, wife or civil partner dies

You might be able to inherit an extra payment on top of your new State Pension if you are widowed. You will not be able to inherit anything if you remarry or form a new civil partnership before you reach State Pension age.

You’ll inherit half of your partner’s protected payment if your marriage or civil partnership began before 6 April 2016, their State Pension age is on or after 6 April 2016, and they died on or after that date.

If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you may be able to increase your basic State Pension by using their qualifying years if you do not already get the full amount of £184.90 a week. See also Bereavement Support Payment.

Common questions

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