Providing you have an adequate National Insurance and earnings record, benefits from the Scheme are paid in addition to any State Pension benefits you may be entitled to receive. The State Scheme is currently made up of two tiers, both of which are payable from State Pension Age. These are:

• State Basic Pension
  The State Basic Pension is a flat-rate weekly pension which, provided you have made sufficient National Insurance contributions, you will receive in addition to your benefits from the Scheme. If you have not made National Insurance contributions for the majority of your working life you could still be entitled to a State Basic Pension on a reduced basis. Information regarding the State Pension Scheme is available from your local Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or from the Gov website at www.gov.uk in the Pensions and Retirement Planning section.
• State Second Pension (S2P)
  The second tier of the State Pension Scheme (S2P) is also paid through National Insurance contributions. It aims to provide a pension related to part of your earnings. Allen & Overy reserves the right to make changes to the Scheme in light of any future changes to the State Pension benefits and the ways in which they are paid. From 2016, the State Second Pension (S2P) is being abolished and will be replaced by a single flat-rate state pension. You can find out more about State Pensions at https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/state-pension

On 6 April 2010, the State Pension Age for women started to increase gradually from 60 to 65, to match the State Pension Age for men. By 2018 the State Pension Age (SPA) for women will have reached 65, as it is for men now. From 2018 to 2020 SPA will rise to 66 for both men and women. The government has now proposed that the increase to age 67 should be brought forward and is scheduled to take place by 2026.