What if I don't get a full State pension?

Some people who've already retired but do not receive the full Basic State Pension can increase their pension by paying additional Class 3 National Insurance contributions. Needless to say the whole subject is more than a tad on the confusing side, but there's a very helpful NIC online planner that gives plenty of useful information and guidance on the subject. It even helps people decide whether it may be a good idea or not to pay additional NI contributions. Worth a look...

When do I get my pension?

Do you know when your State Pension Age is? For some people it’s Age 60, for others age 65, or 66, or 67, or even 68 and (get this) for many all points in between! You’d have to be Einstein to work it out. But have no fear; help is at hand. Click below to get to a cute State Pension Age calculator. All you need to input is your date of birth and sex and, hey presto, the day you’ll get your state pension entitlements will pop up on the screen before your very eyes. Have a go; it’s fun! To add interest why not try guessing first and see how near your guess is? Or try it the next time you have friends round; it’s a great party game!

I'm sure I had a pension scheme...

Ever changed jobs and think you might have been in a pension scheme in a past employment, but can’t really remember? That’s the trouble with the past, it was all such a long time ago wasn’t it? It’s never been easy to move your pensions around with you when you change jobs and plenty of people simply forget about their old pensions. If you think you may have an old pension lying around somewhere or other you can get to use a free service called the Pension Tracing Service by simply clicking on the following link and filling in a few details. It could take about 15 minutes to complete, but it could turn out to be one of the best 15 minutes work you ever do. (The service has access to over 200,000 pension schemes after all!) You may never inherit money from the will of a long-lost uncle, (you may not even have a long-lost uncle, or maybe you do but that doesn’t mean he’s got any money to leave you does it?), but you may well have an old pension or two hanging around somewhere just waiting for you to claim them. It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

How much will I get?

Do you know what you’ll get in State Pensions when you eventually retire? The State Pension Schemes are pretty complex and they’ve been subject to plenty of changes over the years so you won’t meet many people who’ll know how much pension they’re entitled to from the State. But anyone can find out. It’s simple really; if you’re interested in doing so then just follow this handy link which, through the magic of the www, will whisk you to a website that will tell you all about how to go about it. You can even apply for a State Pension Forecast online from there without too much trouble. Go on, you know you want to...

Am I entitled to Pension Credit?

If you’re over the age of 60 you may be entitled to something called the Pension Credit. What’s that? Well, basically it’s there to top up the income of older people to a certain minimum level set by the Government. But get this, loads of people who could claim the Pension Credit don’t do so. In fact billions of pounds a year are left unclaimed; money that’s left in Government coffers that could be in pensioners’ pockets. If you think you may be entitled to Pension Credit, or know someone who might be, then take a little time to check out this easy to use guide to how to claim it. There’s plenty of information here that explains things really well and also there’s a useful Pension Credit Calculator you can play with to see if you may be entitled to extra income; it only takes a few minutes. Worth looking at; you never know...

There's a link here to a briefing note published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies entitled The history of state pensions in the UK: 1948 to 2010. Basically it does just what it says on the tin - if you want a complete understanding of how our state pension system got to where it is now and why then this is the document for you.

There's a link here to what is probably our favourite part of the www – the Registered Pensions Scheme Manual which is on the HMRC site. Don't be put off by its title; think of it as a sort of 'Pensions Bible' if you like. It is up-to-date, well-written and has the full Sp on everything pensions.

There's a link here to the Pensions Timeline on The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) site. The timeline goes through the history of pension events and even covers changes that can be expected as far in the future as 2046 (which is when the State Pension Age of men and women is planned to rise to 68). Importantly, by clicking on any event in the timeline users get taken to more information on any of the many topics covered. It's an excellent web tool that's not only useful, but also fun; well, we think so anyway. See what you think...

There’s a link here to a well written Pensions Primer from the Pensions Policy Institute (the PPI). It gives a good and readable description of the pension system in the UK and traces many of the historical developments that have led us to where we are today. If you want to understand our pension system and why it’s like it is then this is a good place to start.

If you’re about to retire this link to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (or HMRC to you and me) site may be very useful to you. Like most of the stuff on the HMRC site these days it’s written pretty well and it’s got loads of basic information on it that most of us should know, but probably don’t because life’s too short and anyway we’ve been busy what with one thing and another...

This link to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) site is to a guide put out by The Pension Service (part of the DWP). It’s aimed mainly at people who are retired, or about to retire, and contains loads of useful phone numbers and stuff.

Did you know that nearly all UK companies will be required by law to enrol their employees into a workplace pension scheme soon and pay into it to? No? Don't worry, you're not alone; hardly anyone seems to know about this new legislation yet, but everyone will soon. Every employer in the UK has already been allocated a start-date for all this (there are 43 different staging dates between 1 st October 2012 and 1 st September 2016). If you want to know when your company will get to its turn just follow this link and all will be revealed: