The Government gives

Your BA pension is only part of the income you will receive on retirement.

From State Pension Age you will also receive a pension from the Government if you have paid sufficient National Insurance Contributions over your working lifetime. The Government’s pension arrangements differ depending on whether you reach your State Pension Age before or from 6 April 2016.

Your entitlement will fall under the Government’s old State Pension arrangements which are made up of:

You will be entitled to the Basic State Pension provided you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions over your working lifetime.

Depending on your individual circumstances, you may also be entitled to the S2P.

However, APS was contracted out of the S2P. This means both you and BA paid a lower rate of National Insurance contributions and will not therefore have built up this additional state pension. Instead, APS must guarantee that your APS pension will be at least equal to what you would have received in Additional State Pension when you reach your State Pension Age.

If you think you may have gaps in your NI record, you only have a short window (until April 2017) to pay top up NI contributions towards the old State Pension. Further details of how much these will cost and how to pay them are available on www.gov.uk.

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A single State Pension replaced the old State Pension arrangements for individuals reaching State Pension Age after 5 April 2016. You will need at least 10 qualifying years (years in which National Insurance (NI) contributions have been paid or NI credits received) to receive any new State Pension, and for the full amount you will need 35 qualifying years.

  • Your NI contribution history before 6 April 2016 will count towards your new State Pension. At 6 April 2016 your ‘starting amount’ will be the higher of the amount you would get under the previous State Pension arrangements or the amount you would get if the new State Pension had been in place at the start of your working life
  • Your starting amount will include a deduction for the time you were in APS because APS was contracted out of the additional state pension and can provide a higher pension. You will build up additional new State Pension on top of your starting amount if you are eligible to pay National Insurance (NI) contributions or secure NI credits after 5 April 2016.
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If you have gaps in your NI record you may be able to pay voluntary contributions to fill these gaps.

For full details of the new State pension, National Insurance and qualifying years and to request your own State Pension statement and National Insurance statement visit www.gov.uk/new-state-pension.

You can get more information about the state pension arrangements from the Department of Work and Pensions at www.gov.uk.

Reduced rate National Insurance contributions

If you are a married woman (or a widow) who paid a reduced rate of National Insurance contributions (NICs) and you reach State Pension Age before 6 April 2016, you may not be entitled to the Basic State Pension in your own right.

From 6 April 2016 if you are a woman born after 5 April 1953 or a man born after 5 April 1951 and have paid reduced rate NICs the arrangements have changed.

For further information visit www.gov.uk/reduced-national-insurance-married-women.

 
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