state pensions

The pension you may get from the state is made up of two main components – the basic state pension^* and the state additional pension.
State pensions work on what is known as a ‘pay as you go^*’ basis. What this means is that the state pensions of people who are currently retired are paid from the national insurance contributions^* collected for today’s generation of workers. In turn, when today’s generation of workers retire, their state pensions will be paid for by the contributions from future workers who will then be working.