get-uk-state-pension-date

This package can be used in two different ways.

1. Installed from a GitLab repository, as a dependency in your package.json file.

2. Cloned from the repository to provide a simple REST based service.

1) Package dependency

This package, provides two simple functions that allows the calculation of the Date on which a UK citizen becomes elligible for their State Pension.

The functions are...

getStatePensionDate(dateOfBirth, gender)
getStatePensionDateAsString(dateOfBirth, gender)

Where...

• 'dateOfBirth' must be in the YYYY-MM-DD format.
• 'gender' must be one of 'F', 'FEMALE', 'M' or 'MALE' (case insensitive).
• YYYY-MM-DD is the only format supported.
• The YYYY section of the Date of Birth must be in the range 1000 - 4000 (Arbitrary limits imposed by author).
• The 'getStatePensionDate' function returns a Date object representing the State Pension Date.
• The 'getStatePensionDateAsString' function returns a String containing the State Pension Date in the YYYY-MM-DD format.
• If the input provided is invalid the function will throw TypeError('Invalid Input').
• If the State Pension Date cannot be determined, a value of 'undefined' will be returned (by both functions).
• Invalid date values (e.g. 29 feb in non-leap years, or 31 April etc.) will result in 'undefined' being returned (by both functions).
• Invalid gender values (anything other than 'F', 'FEMALE', 'M' or 'MALE') will result in 'undefined' being returned (by both functions).

Example

Install by cloning this repository and running npm install. Once installed, then the functions can simply be required within a Javascrip file as follows...

// Require the module
const UKStatePension = require('get-uk-state-pension-date');

const getUkStatePensionDate = UKStatePension.getUkStatePensionDate;
const getUkStatePensionDateAsString = UKStatePension.getUkStatePensionDateAsString;

// Get state pension date for a male born on 25 March 1990
const pensionDate = getUkStatePensionDate('1990-03-25', 'M');

// Write result to console
console.log(`For a male born on 25 March 1990, their state Pension Date would be ${pensionDate}`);

// Get the same item as a string in the YYYY-MM-DD format
const pensionDateString = getUkStatePensionDateAsString('1990-03-25', 'M');

// Write result to console
console.log(`For a male born on 25 March 1990, their state Pension Date would be ${pensionDateString}`);

Error Handling

2) Server process

After cloning the project from a repository, and running 'npm install', you can run the following to ensure the component is working correctly:

npm test

then you can start a simple server by executing...

npm start

** the service will start on port 5000 by default. To set a different port configure an environment variable SPA_PORT

e.g. SPA_PORT=4001

Once running, the service will accept requests that supply a date of birth and a gender, and will return a simple piece of content showing the state pension date.

The RESTfull interface provides 2 endpoints:

1) Get state pension date which provides the state pension age for a given birthday and sex; this is called as per the below query.

Example query...

http://localhost/1990-03-10/M

Would return...

{
    "statePensionDate": "2058-03-10T00:00:00.000Z"
}

If the input provided is invalid the rest service will return 400 http status code and, for example, the json

{
    "error":"The client input was invalid: Date of birth: '1990-03-10', Gender: 'G'"
}

If an error is thrown while processing the rest service will return 500 http status code and, for example, the json

{
   "error":"Unexpected error occurred for input: Date of birth: '1990-03-10', Gender: 'F'"
}

2) Ping health which provides a check point for health monitors to call into to ensure the service is up; this is called as per the below query.

Example query...

http://localhost/ping

Would return...

pong

Caveat

The dates produced by this package are based on legislation in place at the point of publishing (November 2018). Dates that fall beyond the current legislation (i.e. after 5/4/1977) are calculated on a best endeavours basis only.

see below link for fuller details

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf

E&OE