Thousands of people who divorced before April 2016 but will retire after that date face a drastic cut in income because of new state pension rules.

Experts warn spouses with no earnings, the vast majority of whom will be women, who previously qualified for the full state pension based on their partner’s record, now face a “major” cut.

The new “single tier” state pension replaced the old two-tier system of basic and additional state pension in April 2016. From that date your entitlement to the state pension will be based solely on your own National Insurance (NI) record.

Under the old system you could claim based on a husband, wife or civil partner’s record for the period you were married.

If a couple divorced, a non-earning spouse could receive a full state pension if their former spouse had a full NI record and there was no impact on the pension of the former spouse.

But this is no longer the case.