Glossary · UK
What is Graduated Retirement Benefit?
A small additional State Pension amount some people who paid National Insurance between 1961 and 1975 still receive, based on graduated NI contributions paid under a since-abolished earnings-related scheme.
Full Definition
Graduated Retirement Benefit is a small extra amount of State Pension paid to some pensioners who were employed and paid graduated National Insurance contributions between April 1961 and April 1975, under the UK's first earnings-related state pension scheme, which predated both the Additional State Pension (SERPS/State Second Pension) and the current single-tier new State Pension. Contributions during that period built up "units" of graduated contribution, each unit currently worth a small weekly amount that is uprated annually, so someone with a long employment record spanning that 14-year window can still see a modest Graduated Retirement Benefit line item added to their State Pension payment even though the scheme itself has not accepted new contributions for around five decades. Because it predates 2016, Graduated Retirement Benefit is normally paid alongside the basic State Pension (for those who reached State Pension age before April 2016) rather than being folded into the new State Pension, and unlike the new State Pension it is not affected by the number of qualifying years used to calculate the main pension amount -- entitlement depends purely on the graduated contributions actually paid during the scheme's lifetime. It is a niche legacy entitlement that mainly affects older pensioners today, and its value, while small, is index-linked and paid for life in the same way as the rest of the State Pension.