State Pension currently provides essential financial support for nearly 12.5 million older people across the UK, including some 981,399 living in Scotland. This regular payment is available for those who have reached the UK Government’s eligible retirement age, which is now 66 for both men and women, and have paid at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) delivers the contributory benefit and has revealed that the latest forecasts indicate that some 738,300 older people are set to receive their State Pension for the first time in the 2022/23 financial year.
However, many people approaching the official retirement age this year may not be aware that this contributory benefit is not paid automatically by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and needs to be claimed, or they could miss out on payments of up to £185.15 every week. The reason it is not paid automatically when someone reaches State Pension age is because some people choose to defer making a claim in order to keep working and contribute more towards their pension pot.
