Glossary · UK
What is Additional State Pension?
An earnings-related top-up to the basic State Pension (built up mainly through SERPS and the State Second Pension) available only to people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016.
Full Definition
The Additional State Pension is an earnings-related component that could be built up on top of the basic State Pension by employees (though generally not the self-employed) through two successive schemes: the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), running from 1978 to 2002, and its successor, the State Second Pension (S2P), which ran from 2002 until the new State Pension replaced both from 6 April 2016. The amount someone built up depended on their earnings between the lower and upper earnings limits in each relevant year, and could be reduced if they were "contracted out" of the Additional State Pension into a workplace or personal pension scheme instead, in exchange for paying lower National Insurance contributions during the contracted-out period. Only people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 receive the Additional State Pension as a separate, ongoing component of their pension; for everyone reaching State Pension age from that date onward, any Additional State Pension and basic State Pension already built up was combined into a single "starting amount" under transitional rules used to calculate their new State Pension, after which further increases come only from qualifying years and, where relevant, deferral. Because contracting out and SERPS/S2P calculations are complex and highly individual, anyone querying an unexpectedly low or high Additional State Pension figure is generally advised to request a State Pension statement from the Department for Work and Pensions.