Example result based on the prefilled values.
Current Weekly Pension
£137.89
Current Annual
£7,170.06
Projected Weekly at Retirement
£241.30
Projected Annual
£12,547.60
NI Years Still Needed
15.00
Continue your plan
Useful next calculations
Rates & sources2026/27
The 2026/27 full new State Pension rate. This calculator gives only a qualifying-years illustration, not a personal DWP forecast.
Source: DWP — Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027 — source checked for 2026/27.
When to use this calculator
- Before choosing between saving, investing, or increasing your monthly contribution.
- When you want to compare best-case, base-case, and cautious return assumptions.
- When you need a quick projection before making a longer-term portfolio decision.
- When you are deciding how many more years of contributions are needed to reach a specific target balance.
- When you want to see whether starting earlier versus contributing more each month produces a bigger outcome.
A realistic UK planning example
Use these sample inputs as a quick scenario test, then change one variable at a time to compare outcomes.
Qualifying National Insurance Years
10 years
Your Current Age
35
Age used for NI-years projection
66 (State Pension age)
After entering these figures, review current weekly pension, current annual and projected weekly at retirement together rather than in isolation — each metric tells a different part of the story. Then rerun the tool with one input adjusted to see which variable has the biggest effect on all three outputs before you settle on a plan.
How to read your results
Current Weekly Pension
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Current Annual
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Projected Weekly at Retirement
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Projected Annual
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
NI Years Still Needed
Use this metric to compare scenarios side by side and understand how changes in the key inputs drive the final outcome. If the figure surprises you, isolate one variable at a time and rerun the calculation to identify which assumption is responsible.
Method & assumptionsAuthoritative sources
This planning tool uses the full new State Pension rate of £241.30 a week for 2026/27. It illustrates a simple proportion based on the qualifying years entered, with a ten-year minimum and a 35-year reference point. It assumes a qualifying year is added for every year until the projection age selected.
This is not a State Pension forecast. DWP uses your actual National Insurance record and transitional rules; contracting-out, credits, gaps, deferral and future annual uprating can all affect the result. The selected age does not model an early claim or a deferral increase. Check your personalised forecast on GOV.UK before making a retirement or voluntary-contribution decision.
Common mistakes
- !Assuming a constant return without checking a more conservative growth rate.
- !Forgetting to include ongoing contributions, fees, or tax wrappers where relevant.
- !Focusing only on the final balance instead of the path required to reach it.
- !Ignoring the drag of platform fees or fund charges, which can reduce the real compounded return significantly over ten or more years.
- !Comparing ISA and general investment account projections without adjusting for the tax treatment of interest, dividends, or capital gains.
What to do next
- Test a cautious, expected, and optimistic growth rate instead of relying on a single projection.
- Compare this result with related savings or retirement tools before committing more money.
- Use the linked guides to understand which assumptions matter most over longer periods.
- Consider running the same figures in an ISA and a general account scenario to see how the tax treatment changes the outcome over ten or more years.
- If the projected balance falls short of your target, use the tool to work backwards — increase the monthly contribution until the result meets your goal.
Frequently asked
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