In addition to the pension benefits you’ll get from the Scheme and any other pensions you have, you’ll also receive the State Pension. This is a regular income paid to you by the Government once you’ve reached State Pension Age.
The full flat-rate State Pension for the 2020/21 tax year is £175.20 per week, but the amount you’ll receive will depend on your National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
If you were building up benefits in the Scheme, or another contracted-out pension scheme, before 6 April 2016, you were contracted out of the Additional State Pension. This meant you paid reduced rates of National Insurance at that time and the starting amount of your State Pension will be reduced to take into account benefits provided by the Scheme in place of these State benefits
It’s important you understand how much State Pension you’re entitled to when making decisions about your pension benefits.
Find out about your State Pension entitlement and your current State Pension age.
It's important to track down all the different pension schemes you've paid into, so you can be sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to in retirement.
You may decide to consolidate all your pensions into one or two pension plans when you retire. Alternatively, you may choose to take some and leave the rest until you decide to take them. A financial adviser can help you with these decisions.
It can be tricky to keep on top of all the pension schemes you’ve paid into throughout your working career. Fortunately, The Pension Tracing Service can help. The Pension Tracing Service is free and can help you trace a pension you’ve lost track of, even if you don’t have the contact details of the pension provider. You can find out about them here.