Government benefits – helping you in retirement

Unless you’ve managed to build up a large private pension or have a great deal of savings, it’s not always easy to get by in retirement when you’re no longer earning. There are various ways in which the government can help give people of pension age enough money to live on – here’s a concise guide to some of the main benefits. State pension – this is available to men over 65 and women over 60 (increasing to 65 by 2020), although eligibility for the full state pension depends on whether you or your spouse/partner have accumulated sufficient ‘qualifying years’ through national insurance contributions (NICs). You’ll need to have worked approximately 90% of your adult working life in order to do so. People who have been out of work to bring up children View the rest of this article