The normal minimum pension age is 55 and rises to 57 on 6 April 2028 under section 10 of the Finance Act 2022. Members of the armed forces, police and firefighters’ schemes stay at 55. Anyone whose scheme rules on 11 February 2021 gave them an unqualified right, held before 4 November 2021, to take benefits before 57 has a protected pension age under that scheme, and older protected pension ages from 2006 continue.

What is the normal minimum pension age?

It is the earliest age at which a registered pension scheme can pay benefits without the payment being unauthorised. Pension rule 1 in section 165 of the Finance Act 2004 says no pension may be paid before the member reaches normal minimum pension age unless the ill health condition is met. The same age is built into the conditions for the most common lump sums, including the pension commencement lump sum, the uncrystallised funds pension lump sum and the trivial commutation lump sum (PTM062100).

A payment made too early is an unauthorised payment, taxed at 40% with a possible surcharge, and the scheme faces a scheme sanction charge. The age is defined in section 279(1). It was 50 before 6 April 2010 and has been 55 since. Scheme rules can set a higher age, and the tax rules do not require the member to stop working before taking benefits, although some schemes do.

When does it rise to 57 and who is exempt?

Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 rewrote the definition so that, for schemes other than uniformed services pension schemes, normal minimum pension age is 55 from 6 April 2010 and 57 from 6 April 2028. For a uniformed services pension scheme it stays at 55. HMRC’s policy paper names the firefighters, police and armed forces public service schemes as the ones not affected.

The government announced the change in 2014, alongside the pension freedoms consultation, to coincide with state pension age rising to 67. The policy paper says it is intended to support fuller working lives and help ensure pension savings provide for later life. The change does not alter state pension age itself, which is covered in our guide to how the state pension is taxed.

Who has a protected pension age under the 2028 rules?

Paragraph 23ZB of Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2004 sets the entitlement condition. HMRC’s guidance at PTM062215 says all of the following must be met:

  • before 4 November 2021 the member had the right to take a pension, a lump sum or both before reaching 57
  • that right was unqualified, meaning it did not need anyone’s consent, such as the employer or trustees
  • on 11 February 2021 the scheme rules included provision to pay benefits before 57

A member who was part way through a substantive transfer to such a scheme on 4 November 2021 can also qualify. A substantive transfer is an instruction to move a specific amount or percentage to a named scheme; a casual enquiry does not count.

The protected pension age is the age from which the member had the right immediately before 4 November 2021. Protection works scheme by scheme, so someone can have a protected pension age of 55 in one scheme and none in another. It does not have to be registered with HMRC; the scheme administrator can confirm it. A protected pension age is a permission, not an obligation, so a scheme is not required to pay at that age (PTM062205).

Do the older protected pension ages from 2006 still apply?

Yes. Before 6 April 2006 some people had the right to take benefits before the minimum age that came in then. Under paragraphs 21 to 23ZA of Schedule 36, members of occupational or public service schemes on 5 April 2006 who had a right to take benefits before 55 may have a protected pension age, and members of personal pensions and retirement annuity contracts can be protected only if they had a right to take benefits before 50. GOV.UK gives professional sports, dance and modelling as examples of the jobs involved. These protections continue after 6 April 2028 unless lost (PTM062205).

There is one exception to the protected age replacing the standard age. Where the protected pension age is under 50 and benefits are taken before the standard minimum age, the lump sum allowance and lump sum and death benefit allowance may be reduced. GOV.UK states that this does not apply to uniformed services schemes.

What happens to a protected pension age on a transfer?

A 2028 protected pension age is lost on a transfer unless the transfer is a block transfer or an individual transfer that meets the rules in paragraphs 23ZB and 23ZC of Schedule 36 (PTM062250).

  • Block transfer. The rights of the member and at least one other member move in a single transaction, and all the transferring members’ rights under the scheme go. The protected age then applies in the receiving scheme, including to new benefits built up there.
  • Individual transfer. A member with a protected pension age of 55 or 56 can move a whole arrangement. The protection applies only to the transferred funds and their growth, which must be ring fenced. New contributions to the receiving scheme can only be taken from the normal minimum pension age.

Compared with the 2006 regime, there is no 12 month permitted membership period, benefits need not all come into payment together and there is no restriction on re employment. The same rules apply on an individual transfer to a QROPS.

What about people aged 55 or 56 on 5 April 2028?

Someone who reaches 55 before 6 April 2028 and has no protected pension age can take benefits until then, but on the face of the legislation would have to wait until 57 for anything not already paid. In August 2026 HMRC published a technical consultation on a draft Taxation of Pension Schemes (Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2026, which closed on 28 September 2026.

Under the draft, a member aged 55 or 56 on 5 April 2028 who had already become entitled to benefits would be treated as having reached 57 immediately before later payments. It would cover drawdown funds designated on or before 5 April 2028, scheme pensions and lifetime annuities where entitlement arose by that date, and pension commencement lump sums, stand alone lump sums, pension commencement excess lump sums and trivial commutation lump sums where entitlement arose but payment had not been made. At the time of writing these are draft provisions and the final Order should be checked before relying on them.

A worked example

Illustration only. Assume none of the people below has a protected pension age and none is in a uniformed services scheme.

  • Amira turns 55 in July 2026. She can take benefits now. If she designates funds for drawdown before 6 April 2028, the draft transitional rules would let income continue after that date.
  • Ben turns 55 in July 2027. He has a window until 5 April 2028 to become entitled to benefits. If he waits, he will usually have to wait until he is 57 in July 2029.
  • Chloe turns 55 in July 2028, after the change. She cannot take benefits until 57 in July 2030, unless she meets the ill health condition.

If Chloe’s personal pension rules on 11 February 2021 gave her an unconditional right to take benefits from 55, and she held that right before 4 November 2021, she would have a protected pension age of 55 in that scheme.

Can benefits be taken earlier on ill health grounds?

Yes. The ill health condition is met if the scheme administrator has evidence from a registered medical practitioner that the member is, and will continue to be, incapable of carrying on their current occupation because of injury, sickness, disease or disability, and the member stops carrying on that occupation. The evidence must be kept for at least six years after the end of the tax year in which the benefits started (PTM062100). Scheme rules may set a stricter test.

What mistakes come up most often?

  • Confusing a scheme’s normal pension age with a protected pension age. Only an unqualified right that met the dates counts.
  • Assuming an early retirement option that needs employer or trustee consent is protected. It is not unqualified.
  • Transferring only part of an arrangement, which does not meet the individual transfer rules, and losing protection.
  • Planning to take tax free cash at 55 after April 2028 and reinvest it; check the pension recycling rules before combining withdrawals with new contributions.
  • Assuming the change affects inheritance of pension funds. It governs when a member can draw benefits; see pensions and inheritance tax for death benefits.

Scheme administrators must report certain payments before normal minimum pension age on the Event Report (PTM062215). Business owners timing withdrawals around contributions should also read our guide to pension contributions for business owners.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.