State Pension age is rising, the triple lock is under fire and the full State Pension is far from a comfortable income. Here’s how to build a plan B while there’s still time.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 24 October 2026
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Here’s a simple test. Take your monthly outgoings now, knock off the mortgage if it will be cleared by then, and ask whether you could live on about £1,045 a month. That’s roughly what the full new State Pension pays from April 2026. Then remember that you may not get it until you’re 67, or possibly 68.
For most men in their fifties, the honest answer is no. The good news is that between 45 and 64 you still have time to fix the gap. The less good news is that every year you leave it, the fix gets more expensive.
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When will I actually get my State Pension?
Right now the State Pension age is 66. Between 2026 and 2028 it rises to 67, under legislation passed back in 2014. If you were born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977, your State Pension age is currently 67.
Born later than that? The law as it stands moves the age to 68 between 2044 and 2046, so a lot of today’s 45-to-48-year-olds are already looking at 68. The government launched its third review of State Pension age in 2025, and that review could recommend bringing the move to 68 forward. Nothing has been decided, but planning on the assumption that the age only ever goes one way is not paranoia. It’s history.
Private pensions are moving too. The earliest age you can normally draw a workplace or personal pension rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028. If your plan was to stop at 55, check the date again.
Is the triple lock safe?
The triple lock raises the State Pension each April by whichever is highest: average earnings growth, CPI inflation or 2.5%. In April 2026 that meant a 4.8% rise, taking the full new State Pension from £230.25 to £241.30 a week, or about £12,548 a year.
The current government has committed to keeping it for this parliament. Beyond that, nobody can promise you anything. The cost of the State Pension keeps climbing as the population ages, and economists and think tanks regularly question whether the triple lock can last for decades. It may survive in some form, it may be watered down to a double lock, or the pension age may rise faster instead. Any of those changes would land on people your age, not on those already drawing it.
There’s also a tax twist. The personal allowance is frozen at £12,570 until April 2031, while the State Pension keeps rising. On its own, the full State Pension is creeping up towards the point where it becomes taxable, and any private pension on top is already taxed. In Scotland, income tax bands and rates are different, so your tax bill in retirement will be too.
The State Pension is a floor, not a plan. Everything above the floor is your job.
Step one: find out what you’re actually getting
Before you do anything clever, get the facts. The Check your State Pension forecast service on GOV.UK tells you how much you’re on track for, when you’ll get it and whether you have gaps in your National Insurance record.
You normally need 35 qualifying years for the full new State Pension and at least 10 to get anything at all. Spells abroad, self-employment, low earnings or time out of work can all leave holes. You can usually fill gaps from the last six tax years with voluntary Class 3 contributions, which cost £17.45 a week, or £907.40 for a full year, in 2025/26.
Each extra year adds roughly 1/35th of the full State Pension, about £6.90 a week or £358 a year at the April 2026 rate. Pay for a year at 64 and live to 85, and you’d get more than £7,000 back for a £907 outlay. But not everyone benefits: if you’re already heading for the full amount, extra years add nothing. Check before you pay, and if your record is complicated, contact the Future Pension Centre first.
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How much should I be saving for retirement at 50?
There’s no magic number, but the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s Retirement Living Standards are a useful reality check. Even their minimum standard for a single person, covering the basics with very little left for treats, costs more than the full State Pension alone pays. A moderate lifestyle with a car, a holiday abroad and some eating out costs a great deal more.
The main tool you have is the pension tax relief. Put £400 from your take-home pay into a personal pension and the provider claims £100 in basic-rate relief, so £500 goes in. If you pay higher-rate tax you can claim another £100 back through your tax return, making the real cost £300. Scottish taxpayers claim relief at their own rates, which can be different.
Run the numbers. £500 a month for 15 years is £90,000 before any investment growth, and as a higher-rate taxpayer you’d have paid about £54,000 of that yourself. Start at 45 instead of 50 and you add five more years of contributions and growth. The annual allowance, the most most people can pay in with tax relief, is £60,000 or 100% of your earnings, whichever is lower, so for most readers the limit is your cash flow, not the rules.
If your employer matches extra contributions, take every penny of the match before anything else. If you use salary sacrifice, it currently saves National Insurance as well as tax, though from April 2029 the National Insurance saving will only apply to the first £2,000 a year you sacrifice.
Plan B isn’t only about pensions
Pensions are tax-efficient but locked away until 57. A sensible backup has a few layers:
ISAs. You can put £20,000 a year into ISAs, and withdrawals are tax-free whenever you take them. That makes them handy for bridging the gap if you stop work before your State Pension starts. From April 2027, under-65s will only be able to put £12,000 of that into a cash ISA. The rest has to go into stocks and shares or other ISA types.
Old pots. If you’ve changed jobs a few times, you probably have pensions you’ve lost track of. The government’s free Pension Tracing Service can help you find them. Before moving any money, check for lost guarantees or exit fees.
Working a bit longer, or part-time. Every extra year of earnings is a year you’re not drawing down savings, and a year longer for your pot to grow. Not glamorous, but very effective.
Your home. Downsizing can free up capital, but stamp duty, moving costs and emotional attachment eat into it. Count it as a possible bonus, not the foundation of your plan.
If you’re 50 or over and have a defined contribution pension, Pension Wise from MoneyHelper offers a free, impartial guidance appointment. For bigger decisions, such as transferring a final salary pension or deciding how to draw your pot, pay for an FCA-regulated financial adviser. And be wary of anyone cold-calling about your pension. That is a scam until proven otherwise.
In short
The full new State Pension is about £12,548 a year from April 2026, it starts at 66 now and 67 between 2026 and 2028, and both the age and the triple lock could change before you get there. Check your forecast on GOV.UK, fill any National Insurance gaps worth filling, use pension tax relief and ISAs to build income on top, and get free guidance from Pension Wise or paid advice from an FCA-regulated adviser for the big decisions.
Andrew Ingram writes about money for men 45 and over – the years when retirement starts to feel real and the decisions get bigger. Pensions and retirement planning, investing, savings, mortgages and tax: what changed, what it means for your plans and what's worth doing about it. No hype, nothing to sell, and a clear steer on when it pays to get personal advice.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to andrew@midcent.uk.
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