Retirement options

Retirement options

Retirement ages

Normal retirement age

An individual's normal retirement age (sometimes referred to as default retirement age) is traditionally the age at which, under the rules of a pension scheme, a member can access their pension benefits in full (ie without reduction for early payment). Normal retirement age will often be 65.

While pension schemes can still use the concept of normal retirement age, since 6 April 2011, employers no longer have the unfettered right to dismiss employees on attaining age 65.

Normal minimum pension age and protected pension age

Normal minimum pension age is the earliest age at which members may take their benefits (other than ill-health benefits) as authorised member payments under a registered pension scheme. Normal minimum pension age is currently 55, having increased from 50 on 6 April 2010. It will further increase to 57 with effect from 6 April 2028.

Where members started to take their benefits after reaching the normal minimum pension age of 50 before 6 April 2010 but they were not yet aged 55 by that date, those benefits can still continue to be paid after 6 April 2010 as

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Pensions News

Finance Bill 2026 report stage amendments – explanatory notes published

Explanatory notes have been published for government amendments to Finance Bill 2026.

National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill: Lords agree increase in salary sacrifice cap to £5,000

Pensions analysis: The House of Lords considered the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill at Report stage on 5 March 2026. The principal debates concerned non-government amendments to Clause 1, relating to employer pension contributions under optional remuneration arrangements in Great Britain, and Clause 2, which makes equivalent provision for Northern Ireland. The House of Lords agreed amendments increasing the cap from £2,000 to £5,000, exempting basic rate taxpayers, protecting student loan calculations, exempting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and charities, and strengthening parliamentary scrutiny of regulations, all of which the government had opposed on grounds of fiscal sustainability, fairness within the national insurance system, and administrative operability. Following the end of the Report Stage, a revised Bill was published on 5 March 2026 and it now moves to its Third Reading in the House of Lords on 12 March 2026.

Home Office report before Parliament on updates to Police Pension Scheme member contribution rates

The Home Office has laid a report before Parliament outlining proposed amendments to the Police Pensions Regulations 2015. The proposed regulations introduce a revised member contribution structure that will replace full-time equivalent pensionable earnings with actual pensionable earnings to determine the applicable contribution tier, effective from 1 April 2026. This change aims to ensure the Police Pension Scheme 2015 achieves the required average yield of 13.7% and align with HM Treasury’s cost-sharing requirements.

DWP policy paper sets out direction for DC scale measure reforms ahead of consultation

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published a paper setting out its policy principles on scale measures, which are part of the wide ranging reforms introduced in the Pension Schemes Bill designed to encourage the consolidation of smaller defined contribution (DC) pension schemes into fewer, larger multi-employer DC schemes in order to improve efficiency, governance and long-term value for members. The policy paper is intended to signal the government’s direction of travel on the scale measures reforms ahead of detailed consultation on regulations to follow the Pension Schemes Bill’s royal assent. While the paper outlines the DWP’s trajectory in this area, it also clarifies that it does not replace formal consultation nor pre-empt the final regulatory framework.