There’s a possibility that you will have to pay tax on some or even all of it. You’ve paid income taxes all your working life through your salary, now they want their pound of flesh too. Sadly, your state pension (what’s left of it anyway) is treated as taxable income and added to any other taxable income (e.g., private pensions, additional earnings and so on). Any excess after deduction of your personal tax allowance (currently £12,500 a year) is then subject to income tax in the normal way. And even if you are living outside of the UK, you may still have to pay UK tax on your state pension.