State Pension Age Calculator
Your Exact Date by Birthday

State Pension age by date of birth

The full schedule in force today, from Schedule 4 to the Pensions Act 1995, with the dates each group reaches State Pension age. The rise from 66 to 67 runs from 6 May 2026 to 6 March 2028: each month of birth from April 1960 adds one month. Men and women follow the same rows for anyone born from 6 December 1953 onwards.

Examples: born 1 March 1965, State Pension age 67 on 1 March 2032; born 1 June 1980, 68 on 1 June 2048.

State Pension age by year of birth

Find your birth year. If the whole year shares one State Pension age, you reach it on your birthday in the year shown. In 1960, 1961, 1977 and 1978 the age changes part-way through the year, so your exact date depends on your birth month: use the table above or enter your date of birth in the calculator.

State Pension age 68: the timetable in law

The Pensions Act 2007 sets the rise from 67 to 68. Anyone born between 6 April 1977 and 5 April 1978 gets a fixed date rather than an age, two months later for each month of birth, so the change is phased in between May 2044 and March 2046. Anyone born on or after 6 April 1978 reaches State Pension age on their 68th birthday.

This is the timetable in force. The third State Pension age review could propose bringing it forward, but a proposal is not law: only an Act of Parliament amending Schedule 4 can change these dates.

Will the State Pension age rise to 68 sooner?

The Pensions Act 2014 requires the government to review State Pension age regularly, and a third review is under way, supported by an independent report led by Dr Suzy Morrissey. The 2017 review proposed moving the rise to 68 forward to 2037-39, and the 2023 review deferred that decision. Neither was legislated. Until Parliament changes Schedule 4, anyone born after 5 April 1978 reaches State Pension age at 68 and the rise is phased in over 2044-46. If you were born in the late 1970s or later, plan with 68 and treat an earlier date as a risk to watch, not a rule.

When can I take my private pension: 55 or 57?

The normal minimum pension age for workplace and personal pensions is 55 until 5 April 2028 and 57 from 6 April 2028 (Finance Act 2022). If you were born after 5 April 1973 you will be 57 before you can draw. If you were born between 7 April 1971 and 5 April 1973 you reach 55 before the change and 57 after it. HMRC's draft transitional rules, open for consultation until 28 September 2026, would let you keep drawing benefits you had already started, but not start new ones until 57. That makes the timing of a first withdrawal a real decision for this group. Anyone with a protected pension age in their scheme keeps it.

Tax-free cash from those pensions is capped separately by the lump sum allowance, which the lump sum allowance calculator works out. To see what your pots would pay in the years before the State Pension starts, use the UK pension calculator. Many people who stop work before State Pension age bridge the gap from their pots; the UK retirement planning guide sets out what that bridge costs at 60, 66 and 67, and the pension drawdown calculator shows how long your pot lasts if it pays your income alone until the State Pension starts.

Is it worth paying voluntary National Insurance?

For most people with a real gap, yes. A full year of voluntary Class 3 costs £956.80 (£18.40 a week in 2026-27) and adds 1/35 of the full new State Pension: £6.89 a week, about £359 a year for life, index-linked. The cost is recovered after about 2.7 years of receiving it before tax. Someone on track for 30 years who fills 3 gaps pays up to £2,870 for £1,076 a year more.

The catch is that a gap is only worth filling if it raises your pension. If you will reach 35 qualifying years by working until State Pension age, an extra year now buys nothing, which is why the calculator counts your future years first. People who were contracted out before 2016 may need more than 35 years, or may already be at the full rate, so the GOV.UK forecast has the final say. You can pay only for the past 6 tax years; the extended window back to 2006 closed on 5 April 2025. The two most recent years are charged at their original, lower rates, and older years at the current rate. Some self-employed people can pay Class 2 instead, at £3.65 a week.

How much State Pension will I get?

The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026–27, about £12,548 a year, for anyone reaching State Pension age since 6 April 2016 with 35 qualifying years. Each year below that takes off 1/35 (£6.89 a week), and fewer than 10 years pays nothing. So 30 years gives £206.83 a week and 20 years gives £137.89. Gaps can often be filled with voluntary National Insurance contributions. Your GOV.UK forecast shows your own record, including any contracted-out deduction from before 2016, and the 2026–27 rate rises each April under the triple lock. The National Insurance calculator shows what you pay towards each year, and the State Pension calculator works out how much you'll get from your own record, with deferral and gap filling.