Pension advice (state) help! Please.

[Feelingfortyisntfun]

I have no idea where to go for advice. I didn’t claim any child benefits when I had my children and spent some time out of work caring for them. I also went travelling when I was younger, did some unpaid charity work and did two degrees (yes I know!). Now I know there must be gaps in my pension and I have no idea of how to find out what gaps there are and if I can refill them now I’m working again.

I have a small pension from working but currently I’d be broke if I retired now- slightly frightened at my future. Does anyone know where to go for help?

Thank you 🙏

You can check it here

www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

You can check your National insurance contributions record and estimated state pension entitlement online. You need to be registered for Government Gateway first, which you can also do online. It's all on the gov.uk website.

Once you've established the current position you can then look to see what gaps you may be able to fill with voluntary contributions. Again, all the info to do this is on the website.

oh Thank you so much!

I believe you need 35 qualifying years to claim a full state pension
Are you married ?
When you login, it will advise how many years you have contributed, when you can claim, how much you will receive

Current full state pension is £168 per week

If it stays that way Jeep.

Thank you very much. I think I may be retirning at 8- :-) I haven't a clue about pensions generally, I have had work pensions and obviously worked in different places does anyone else know if there are independent pension funds to start investing in now too. I feel I haven't prepared at all! 40 and only just starting to realise the seriousness of it all!

You can absolutely start a new personal pension, but you ought to compare whether increasing contributions to your current employer's scheme could be a more suitable course of action. It may have much lower annual charges, for example, or may offer matched contributions.

Sunsets my concern is what If I don’t stay with my current employer (been there 5 years already) can we just transfer pensions? I’m so ignorant but thank you so much for your advice!!

Unless you leave your employer with less than 3 month's service then whatever pension contributions you have built up are yours absolutely. They will remain invested in that scheme unless and until you choose to transfer them elsewhere. If you changed employer then you might want to look at whether you can transfer into their scheme or if they would pay into your existing one.