A detailed guide to State Pensions for advisers and others

16
Number of Number of years in the working life
qualifying
years 44 45 46 47 48 49
33 85 83 81 79 77 75
34 88 85 83 81 80 78
35 90 88 85 84 82 80
36 93 90 88 86 84 82
37 95 93 91 89 87 85
38 98 95 93 91 89 87
39 100 98 96 93 91 89
40 100 100 98 96 94 91
41 100 100 100 98 96 94
42 100 100 100 100 98 96
43 100 100 100 100 100 98
44 100 100 100 100 100 100
or more 100 100 100 100 100 100
If they have qualifying years for at least 25% but less than 90% of their working
life, they will qualify for a reduced-rate basic State Pension.
If they have fewer than the 25% qualifying years, they may not qualify for any
basic State Pension. (However, a person may still qualify for an additional State
Pension or for Graduated Retirement Benefit based on their contributions from
their earnings – see pages 30 and 55.)
Example
Derek reaches State Pension age (65) in January 2009. He will need to have
built up 44 qualifying years to get a full basic State Pension. (His working life
is defined as 49 years and covers the ages 16 to 65.) Dorothy (aged 60 in
January 2009) needs to have built up 39 years to get a full basic State Pension
(her working life is 44 years and covers the ages 16 to 60 because the
State Pension age for a woman is currently 60).
People reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010
To qualify for a full basic State Pension, a person will need to have 30 qualifying
years in their working life. If they have fewer than 30 years, they will qualify for a
basic State Pension of 1/30th of the full rate of basic State Pension for each
complete qualifying year they have built up. This means that the only people
reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 who will not be entitled to
any basic State Pension, are those who have not built up one qualifying year
through contributions they have paid or are treated as having paid, or credits.
[SSCBA, Pensions Act 2007 section 1]