State Pension Age: When You Can Claim (Rising to 67 From 2026)

The State Pension age in the UK is currently 66, and it begins rising to 67 for people born on or after 6 April 1960. The increase is phased in month by month between April 2026 and early 2028, so anyone born from 6 March 1961 onwards has a State Pension age of 67. You cannot take the State Pension early, but you can put off claiming it to get a bigger weekly amount.

Key points

• State Pension age is 66 for anyone born before 6 April 1960.
• Those born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961 reach it somewhere between 66 and 67, rising in one-month steps.
• Everyone born on or after 6 March 1961 (and before 6 April 1977) has a State Pension age of 67.
• There is no early access: the State Pension cannot be drawn before your State Pension age, however ill or out of work you are.
• Deferring adds roughly 5.8% a year to the new State Pension — worth about £14 a week on the full rate of £241.30.

The current State Pension age

For both men and women, State Pension age is 66. That has been the position since October 2020, when the equalisation of men's and women's pension ages finished and the move from 65 to 66 completed.

State Pension age is the same across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is set by UK legislation, so devolution makes no difference to when you can claim. Scottish income tax rates do differ once the money starts arriving, which matters for the tax you pay on it rather than the date you get it.

Your State Pension is not paid automatically. HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions know your date of birth, but you still have to make a claim — normally after an invitation letter arrives a couple of months before you reach State Pension age. If no letter turns up, you can still claim through the Get your State Pension service on GOV.UK.

The rise to 67 starts in April 2026

The Pensions Act 2014 brought forward the increase from 66 to 67, which had originally been timetabled for the mid-2030s. The new schedule starts with people born on 6 April 1960 and completes in early 2028.

The mechanics are simple once you see them. For each month of birth after 5 April 1960, one extra month is added to your State Pension age, until the full extra year has been added. So someone born in April 1960 waits 66 years and one month; someone born in February 1961 waits 66 years and eleven months; someone born in March 1961 or later waits the full 67 years.

This means the practical effect is not a cliff edge. Two people born a few weeks apart can have State Pension dates roughly two months apart, and the gap between your 66th birthday and your pension date grows steadily through the transition.

What about the rise to 68?

Under current law, State Pension age rises again from 67 to 68 between 6 April 2044 and 5 April 2046, affecting people born on or after 6 April 1977. A previous review recommended bringing that forward to the late 2030s, but that change has not been legislated. Governments are required to review State Pension age periodically, so anyone born in the late 1970s or later should treat 68 as the planning assumption while accepting the date could move.

Your State Pension date by birth year

The table below sets out the legislated timetable for the rise from 66 to 67. Dates are inclusive of the start date and run to the day before the next band begins.

One quirk: if adding the extra months produces a date that does not exist — for example 31 November — the rules land you on the last day of that month instead. The State Pension age calculator gives you the exact day rather than the month band.

Can you take your State Pension early?

No. There is no early-payment option for the State Pension, at any reduced rate, for any reason. Ill health, redundancy or caring responsibilities do not bring the date forward, which is the single most common misunderstanding about how the system works.

What you can often do earlier is access a workplace or personal pension. The normal minimum pension age for private pensions is 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028. That creates a bridging question for people born in the early 1960s: if you stop work at 62 or 63, private savings and other income have to carry you until your State Pension date, which may now be several months later than you assumed.

If you are out of work or on a low income before State Pension age, the relevant support comes from working-age benefits rather than the pension system. Pension Credit and other pensioner benefits are tied to your State Pension age, so they move with it.

What else changes on your State Pension date

• You stop paying Class 1 National Insurance on employment income, even if you keep working. Your employer still pays secondary NI at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold.
• If you are self-employed, Class 2 stops from the week you reach State Pension age and Class 4 stops from the start of the following tax year.
• Pension Credit becomes available if your income is low enough.
• Concessionary travel rules differ by nation — in England a bus pass is tied to State Pension age, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use age 60.

Deferring your State Pension

If you carry on working, or simply do not need the money yet, you can delay claiming. Under the new State Pension (for anyone reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016), the pension increases by 1% for every nine weeks you defer, which works out at just under 5.8% for a full year. You must defer for at least nine weeks for any increase to apply, and there is no lump-sum option under the new rules.

Worked example: deferring for one year

Take someone entitled to the full new State Pension of £241.30 a week in 2026/27.

• Income given up by deferring 52 weeks: 52 × £241.30 = £12,547.60
• Uplift earned: £241.30 × 5.8% = £13.99 a week
• Extra income per year afterwards: £13.99 × 52 = £727.48
• Years to recover the money forgone: £12,547.60 ÷ £727.48 = about 17 years

So deferral is a long-run trade. It pays off if you live well past the break-even point, and it is worth less in after-tax terms if the extra income lands in a higher band later than it would have done now. The increase is added to your weekly payments and is taxable in the same way as the rest of your State Pension.

Two further rules matter. Deferring does not build increments during any period you are receiving certain benefits, including Pension Credit. And if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you are on the older and far more generous deferral terms — 1% for every five weeks, roughly 10.4% a year, with a lump-sum alternative.

Tax when the State Pension starts

The State Pension is taxable income, but it is paid gross with no tax deducted. Any tax due is collected through the PAYE code on another pension or job, or through Self Assessment.

The full new State Pension of £241.30 a week is £12,547.60 a year — only £22.40 below the £12,570 Personal Allowance, which remains frozen. That is why a modest second pension can produce a tax bill that catches people out.

Worked example: State Pension plus a £5,000 private pension

• Total income: £12,547.60 + £5,000 = £17,547.60
• Less Personal Allowance: £17,547.60 − £12,570 = £4,977.60 taxable
• England, Wales or Northern Ireland: £4,977.60 × 20% = £995.52
• Scotland: £3,967 × 19% = £753.73, plus £1,010.60 × 20% = £202.12, total £955.85

In practice HMRC would normally collect that by reducing the tax code on the £5,000 pension, so the private pension provider deducts the tax before paying you. Check the code: it is the most common cause of paying too much or too little in the first year of retirement.

Check your record before your date arrives

The full new State Pension needs 35 qualifying years of National Insurance, and at least 10 years to get anything at all. Gaps from time abroad, low earnings or contracted-out employment can leave you short, and voluntary Class 3 contributions cost £18.40 a week.

There is little point planning around a pension date without knowing the amount attached to it. A State Pension forecast shows what you are on track for and whether filling gaps would increase it. You can also check the official record through the Check your State Pension forecast service.

What to do next

Start with the date, then the amount. Use the State Pension age calculator to get your exact claim date under the 2026–2028 timetable, then run a State Pension forecast to see how many qualifying years you have. If you will have other income alongside your pension, the income tax calculator will show what you keep after tax in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.