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State pension payments require at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions. To receive the full amount of £175.20 per week, claimants will need at least 35 years of National Insurance contributions.
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However, building up a National Insurance record can be made difficult by family commitments and having children can impact women more so than men.
| UPDATED: 08:28, Sat, Mar 6, 2021
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State pension claimants may also be eligible for housing benefit which can help people pay their rent if they re on a low income or claiming additional state support. Housing benefit will eventually be replaced by Universal Credit but state pensioners can still make new claims under certain conditions.
| UPDATED: 09:07, Thu, Feb 18, 2021
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State pension income is dependent on NI records and ahead of retiring, people can check on their NI record to see if they have any gaps. Where these gaps exist, people may be able to pay voluntary contributions to fill them.
In some cases, employers can force workers to retire at a certain age, known as a compulsory retirement age .
If employers attempt to do this, they must have a good reason why, with the following being examples:
The job requires certain physical abilities (eg in the construction industry)
The job has an age limit set by law (eg the fire service)
Some people may find themselves forced into retirement (Image: GETTY)
If a worker does not wish to claim their state pension when reaching 66, they can defer their payments which can increase them down the line.
So long as a state pension claim is deferred for at least nine weeks, the eventual payments will increase when they re claimed.
STATE pension rules were changed in 2016 as a new payment system was put in place. However, it is possible to have pension payments affected by both the old and new rules and this can become confusing.