Changes to the normal minimum pension age

Currently, you must be aged 55 or over to start taking money from your pension. This is called the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) and it’s set by the Government.

The NMPA isn’t the same as your pension retirement age, which is the age you’ve chosen to retire at. This selected retirement age could be years later than the NMPA.

From 6 April 2028, the NMPA will increase to 57. So, from 6 April 2028 you’ll need to be aged 57 or older before you can start taking money from your pension.

There are still some circumstances where you can take money earlier, like if you’re suffering from ill health or have a protected pension age.

There are two types of protected pension age:

1. A protected pension age of 55 or 56. This will apply when the NMPA increases to 57 on 6 April 2028
2. A protected pension age of less than 55

If you have multiple pensions, having a protected pension age for one of them doesn’t mean you’ll have a protected pension age for all of them. You’ll need to check each individual pension.

When the new NMPA comes into force, you might qualify for a protected pension age of 55 or 56, depending on the details of your pension scheme.

If you do qualify, your protected pension age will most likely be 55, which means you’ll need to be 55 or older to start taking money from your pension.

You’ll have this type of protected pension age if all the following apply:

• You had money invested in a pension scheme (an occupational or a personal pension) on 3 November 2021
• The rules of that pension scheme gave you an unqualified right to take your pension savings from an earlier age than 57
• Those rules were in place on 11 February 2021

You may also have a protected pension age of 55 or 56 if:

• You transferred from a pension scheme that meets the conditions above as part of a block transfer (a transfer with at least one other member) to a new scheme after 11 February 2021. Your protected pension age will transfer from the old scheme to all your pensions savings in the new scheme
• You transferred into a scheme that meets the requirements above on or before 3 November 2021 (or signed the paperwork before 3 November 2021)

If you transfer pension savings on an individual basis (instead of a block transfer) from a plan that has a protected pension age to one that doesn’t, the protected pension age might still apply to the transferred pension savings. However, this will depend on the terms of the pension scheme you’re transferring into.

Please be aware that only the transferred protected pension savings will have a pension age of 55. Any pension savings already in the scheme and any future contributions can’t be taken until you’re 57. Any other pension savings transferred in at a later date will also be set to age 57 unless they come with their own protected pension age. 

If you want to take all your pension savings at the same age, you should consider carefully whether transferring your protected pension savings to a pension scheme that doesn’t have a protected pension age is right for you.

What does that all mean?

In short, a protected pension age of 55 or 56 means you can take some, or all, of your pension from that earlier age, even after the NMPA increases to 57. You don’t need to take all your pension savings at once, and you don’t need to stop working.

This allows you to start taking money from your pension before you’re 55 if all the following apply:

• You were a member of an occupational pension scheme on 5 April 2006
• The rules of that pension scheme gave you an unqualified right to take your benefits from an earlier age than 55
• Those rules were in place on 10 December 2003

If you qualify, your protected pension age will most likely be 50, which means you’ll need to be 50 or older to start taking money from your pension.

You may also have a protected pension age of less than 55 if:

• You had a retirement annuity contract or personal pension scheme on 5 April 2006 and
• You were in a prescribed occupation (for example, a sportsperson) with a particular early retirement age, generally between 35 and 45, and your chosen retirement age under the plan was before 50

What does that all mean?

In short, a protected pension age of less than 55 means you can take your pension from that earlier age, even after the NMPA increases to 57. However, you must take all your pension savings from the scheme where you have the protected pension age. Plus, if you’re a member of an occupational pension scheme you may also need to stop working.

In most cases, you’ll need to ask your pension scheme provider or pension scheme trustees.

To help give you an idea of what it means if you have a pension with us, we’ve created the table above. Please note, this isn't a complete list of all our pensions and refers to our Personal Pensions and Aviva Master Trust only.

Remember: You may also have a protected pension age of 55 because of a bulk or individual transfer (as described above).