Pensions and retirement: your questions answered
State Pension age and reviews, the triple lock, Pension Credit take-up, workplace pensions, pensioner numbers, retirement ages and State Pension cost.
How many people are saving into a workplace pension?
About 9 in 10 eligible employees in Great Britain (90%, or 22.6 million people) were saving into a workplace pension in 2025, according to DWP's workplace pension participation statistics published on 30 July 2026. Across all employees, including those not eligible, the rate was 82%, or 24.2 million people.
Related: How many people are self-employed in the UK? · What is the average retirement age in the UK? · How much is the State Pension?
How many people claim Pension Credit?
About 1.38 million people received Pension Credit on average in 2024 to 2025, at a cost of £6.0 billion, according to DWP's benefit expenditure and caseload tables. It tops up weekly income to a minimum level, £238.00 for a single person and £363.25 for a couple from April 2026, and can unlock help with housing costs and council tax.
Related: How many pensioners live in poverty? · How much is the State Pension? · How many people claim benefits in the UK? · What is Stat-Xplore and how do I use it?
Is the State Pension age going up?
Yes. The State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028, phased in by date of birth for people born from 6 April 1960. The government's 2023 review confirmed this rise would go ahead as planned. Under current law the age then rises to 68 between 2044 and 2046.
Related: When is the next State Pension age review? · When did the State Pension age change for women? · How many people get the State Pension? · Is the UK population ageing?
What is the average retirement age in the UK?
On DWP's measure, the average age at which people leave the labour market was 65.8 for men and 65.1 for women in 2026, the highest on record using ONS data. The figures are in DWP's statistics on people aged 50 and over, published on 24 September 2026.
Related: How many people over 65 are still working? · Is the State Pension age going up? · How many people are out of work due to long-term sickness?
How much is the State Pension?
The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week from April 2026, or £12,547.60 over a year. It applies to people who reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016. The full basic State Pension, for those who reached it earlier, is £184.90 a week. Both rose by 4.8% in April 2026 in line with earnings, DWP announced.
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How many pensioners are there in the UK?
The UK had 13.46 million people aged 65 and over in mid-2025, 19.4% of a population of 69.48 million, according to ONS mid-year population estimates published on 1 October 2026 (age breakdowns are on Nomis). The number aged 65 and over grew in all four UK nations in the year.
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What is the State Pension triple lock?
The triple lock raises the full basic and new State Pensions each April by the highest of three measures: CPI inflation in the year to September, growth in average weekly earnings in May to July, or 2.5%. DWP's abstract of benefit rate statistics says State Pension uprating has been based on the triple lock since April 2011.
Related: Is the triple lock changing? · How much is the State Pension? · How much does the State Pension cost? · What is the difference between CPI, CPIH and RPI?
How much does the State Pension cost?
Spending on the State Pension was £136.6 billion in 2024 to 2025, according to DWP's benefit expenditure and caseload tables published on 14 April 2026. The same tables forecast £146.1 billion in 2025 to 2026, £154.2 billion in 2026 to 2027 and £180.7 billion by 2030 to 2031, in cash terms. The forecasts match the OBR's March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook.
The figures cover Great Britain and pensions paid to people living abroad (£5.3 billion in 2024 to 2025). The new State Pension accounted for £46.4 billion of 2024 to 2025 spending and its share grows each year. Pension Credit is separate, at £6.0 billion in 2024 to 2025.
Check whether a claim uses cash or real terms and whether it includes other pensioner benefits. The State Pension is outside the welfare cap. For all benefits, see benefit spending.
Related: How much does the UK spend on benefits? · Is the triple lock changing? · How many people get the State Pension? · How is UK tax revenue spent?
How many people over 65 are still working?
About 1.77 million people aged 65 and over were in work in April to June 2026, an employment rate of 13.3%, according to the ONS Labour Force Survey release of September 2026. GOV.UK confirms that you can keep working after State Pension age.
Working at older ages has become more common. DWP's statistics on people aged 50 and over show the share of 65-year-olds who were economically inactive fell from 71.2% in 2016 to 51.8% in 2026. At 66, the current State Pension age, it was 65.6% in 2026.
These are survey estimates, and ONS has warned about lower response rates to the Labour Force Survey, so small changes need care. See how labour market figures are measured.
Related: What is the average retirement age in the UK? · Is the State Pension age going up? · How is UK unemployment calculated? · What is the UK unemployment rate?
When is the next State Pension age review?
Section 27 of the Pensions Act 2014 requires the government to review State Pension age and publish a report within six years of the previous one. The first report came in 2017 and the second on 30 March 2023, so the next must be published by the end of March 2029.
DWP launched the third State Pension age review on 21 July 2025. As the Act requires, it draws on two reports: an independent report led by Dr Suzy Morrissey on the factors that should guide future pension ages, which opened a call for evidence in August 2025, and a Government Actuary's Department report on life expectancy and the share of adult life spent in retirement.
A review report sets out the government's view, but any change to the legislated timetable needs a new Act of Parliament. For the current timetable, see whether the State Pension age is going up.
Related: Is the State Pension age going up? · What is the life expectancy in the UK? · How much does the State Pension cost?
When did the State Pension age change for women?
Women's State Pension age was 60 until 2010. It rose to 65 between 2010 and November 2018, matching men's, with the later part of that rise brought forward by the Pensions Act 2011. The pension age for men and women then rose together to 66, reached in October 2020, as DWP's statistics on people aged 50 and over set out.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman reported in March 2024 on how DWP told women born in the 1950s about the changes. In December 2024 the government decided against a compensation scheme. After new evidence emerged, it took a new decision on 29 January 2026, accepting that individual letters could have been sent earlier and apologising, but reaching the same conclusion on compensation.
The government response and action plan are on GOV.UK.
Related: Is the State Pension age going up? · How much is the State Pension? · What is the average retirement age in the UK?
Is the triple lock changing?
Yes, from April 2030, under plans in a DWP Triple Lock reform factsheet published in October 2026. The current triple lock stays for this Parliament. From April 2030 the State Pension would rise by the highest of CPI inflation, 2.5%, or the amount needed to return or keep the pension at its value relative to earnings, so that over time it rises in line with average earnings.
DWP's uprating analysis, published on 29 September 2026 for Great Britain, estimates savings compared with the current triple lock of about £15 billion in 2039 to 2040 and £50 billion in 2049 to 2050 in cash terms. It projects pensioner relative poverty after housing costs falling from around 14% in 2024 to 2025 to around 8% by 2049 to 2050.
DWP says these are long-run model projections and should not be used to work out savings for a single year.
Related: What is the State Pension triple lock? · How much does the State Pension cost? · How many pensioners live in poverty? · What is the OBR and what does it forecast?
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