Pensions

The full new State Pension was £241.30 a week in 2026-27. That's around £12,500 a year. It will rise to £250.70 a week in April 2027.

Those who reached state pension age before April 2016 get the older basic State Pension, which is £184.90 a week at the full rate. Many also get extra state pension from earlier schemes.

Adjusted for inflation, the full basic State Pension is worth almost three times as much as when it was introduced in 1948. You can see this change in the chart.

How does the state pension compare to what the average person in the UK earns?

In the chart, you can see it as a share of median full-time earnings across the population. The new State Pension is around 30% of median earnings.

The basic State Pension fell relative to earnings from the early 1980s, when it was linked to prices rather than earnings. Since the 'triple lock' was introduced in 2011, it has risen relative to earnings.

At what age can people claim a full state pension?

The State Pension age was 65 for men and 60 for women from 1948 until 2010. The women's State Pension age then rose to match the men's, and both were at 66 years in 2020.

This will rise to 67 by 2028, and, under current law, to 68 between 2044 and 2046.

Many people don't just rely on the state pension. Most have paid into a workplace pension over their working life.

Since 2012, employers have had to automatically enrol their employees into a workplace pension. Employees can opt out, but most don't.

In the chart, you can see the share of employees that are saving into a workplace pension. This has increased from 55% in 2012 to 90% in 2025. The biggest rise was in the private sector, from 42% to 88%.

Eligible employees and their employers saved £166 billion into workplace pensions in 2025, including tax relief. Employers paid around 60% of this.

Under automatic enrolment, at least 8% of an employee's qualifying earnings must be paid into their pension, including at least 3% from the employer.

In 1997, almost half of employees had a defined benefit pension, such as a final salary scheme, which pays a guaranteed income in retirement. That's now 28%, and most are in the public sector.

Most employees with a workplace pension now have a defined contribution pension, which builds up a pot whose value depends on how much is paid in and how investments perform.

How does the average income of pensioners compare to that of the working-age population?

In 2025, the average household with working-age adults earned £755 a week. Among pensioners, this was £642.

Over time, this gap has narrowed. In the mid-1990s, the median pensioner's household income was around two-thirds of the median working-age adult's; it's now 85%.

Where do pensioners get their money from?

State and workplace pensions provide the majority, but many get income from other sources, too.

The average pensioner couple or single pensioner had a gross income of £731 a week in 2025, up from £410 in 1995 after adjusting for inflation.

Nearly half (47%) comes from the State Pension and other benefits, and just over a quarter from workplace pensions. Some people of pension age continue to work (which you see on the chart as "earnings"), while others receive income from investments other sources of capital.

How much does the government spend on the State Pension? There are several ways of answering this question.

The first is looking at it in terms of total pounds. You can see this in the chart. In 2025-26, spending on the State Pension was around £146 billion, and on all pensioner benefits around £178 billion, according to DWP's latest estimates (final figures aren't yet published).

But we can also look at this as a share of GDP, public spending, and welfare spending. You can explore all of these indicators using the tabs on the chart.

The State Pension is the largest single item of welfare spending, making up around 46% of it. It was around 11% of total public spending, and 5% of gross domestic product (GDP).

People are working for longer. The average age at which people leave the labour market is now 65.8 for men and 65.1 for women. For women, that's the highest on record.

For men, it fell from 67 in 1950 to 63 in the mid-1990s, and has risen since. For women, it has risen from around 60 in the 1980s, partly because their State Pension age rose from 60 to 66.

The amount spent on pensions is affected by the number of people in this age bracket.

There are 12.7 million people at or above State Pension age.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) projects this will rise to 15 million by 2050 and 18 million by 2070, despite planned increases in the State Pension age.

There are now around 3.5 people of working age for each person of pension age. ONS projects this will fall to 2.4 by 2070.

Around 72% of people aged 50 to 64 are in work, up from 56% in 1984. Among people aged 65 and over, 13% are in work, up from 5%.

An important metric that captures the economic sustainability of pensions is the number of people of working age relative to the number above the pension age.

This gives some indication of how many working-age adults there are to support older populations financially.

In the chart, you can see this ratio, with ONS projections out to 2070. Today, there are around 3.5 people of working-age per pensioner. This is expected to fall over time, reaching 2.4 by 2070.

The UK spends slightly less on public pensions than most other rich countries: 7.1% of GDP, against an OECD average of 8.0%. Countries such as Italy and Greece spend over 16%.

The UK relies more than most on private pensions, which make up a large part of retirement incomes.

An average earner in the UK starting work today can expect a pension worth around 45% of their earnings, before tax. Around half of this is from the State Pension and half from automatic enrolment.

Across the OECD, the average is 52% from mandatory pensions, and 57% including voluntary pensions where they're common.

The UK's State Pension alone replaces 22% of average earnings, the second-lowest of the countries in the chart.

Someone starting work in the UK today will be able to claim their State Pension at 68, under current law. That's later than in most other rich countries; the OECD average is 66.

In Denmark, where the pension age rises with life expectancy, it is expected to reach 74.

How quickly is the UK ageing compared to other countries?

In the chart, you can see the number of people aged 65 and older, for every 100 people of working age. This also includes medium projections from the United Nations, out to 2100.

In the UK, there are 35 people of pension age per 100 people of working age. The UN projects this will rise to 45 by 2050.

Many other rich countries, such as Japan, Italy and Germany, are ageing faster.

The State Pension figures are the full weekly rates, from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Spending figures are from DWP's benefit expenditure tables, and cover Great Britain.

Workplace pension figures come from DWP and ONS analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which is based on employers' payroll records.

Pensioners' incomes come from DWP's Pensioners' Incomes series and Households Below Average Income, based on the Family Resources Survey.

International comparisons come from the OECD's Pensions at a Glance 2025 and the UN's World Population Prospects 2024.