Can I take my pension before 55 in the UK?

Full answer

The Normal Minimum Pension Age (NMPA) is the earliest age at which you can access your pension savings without penalty. It is currently 55 years old for most people, but this rises to 57 in April 2028. If you were born after 5 April 1973, you will be affected by this change and cannot access your pension until 57. Some schemes have a protected pension age of 55 which was locked in before the rule change -- members of these schemes retain the right to draw benefits from 55 even after 2028, but only if they remain in that scheme and meet the conditions for protection. The main legitimate exceptions to the NMPA are: serious ill-health, where a medical professional confirms that your life expectancy is less than 12 months. In this case the whole fund can be paid as a serious ill-health lump sum, which is tax-free if you are under 75 and have the Lump Sum Allowance available. Certain occupations such as professional athletes, firefighters and police officers under older scheme rules may have a lower normal retirement age. If you access pension savings before the NMPA without meeting an exception, HMRC treats the payment as an unauthorised member payment. The tax charge is 40% on the recipient and there is a further 15% scheme sanction charge on the scheme, giving a combined effective rate of up to 55%. This makes early access extremely costly. Beware of pension liberation or pension unlocking schemes promoted online that claim to let you access your pension early -- most are fraudulent and all early access outside the legitimate exceptions attracts the charge. Use a pension calculator to model your projected fund and work out the best time to start drawing benefits.

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