Can I access my pension early due to serious ill health?

Full answer

While the normal minimum pension age for accessing a defined contribution pension is 55, rising to 57 from April 2028, there is an important exception for serious ill health that allows earlier access in specific, tightly defined circumstances. Most registered pension schemes permit 'ill-health early retirement', where a member who is no longer able to work in their normal occupation because of a serious medical condition, and who satisfies their specific scheme's ill-health test (which usually requires medical evidence and sign-off, and can vary in strictness between schemes), can access their pension before the normal minimum age. A more generous provision exists for terminal illness: if a registered medical practitioner certifies that a member has a life expectancy of less than 12 months, the whole pension pot can normally be taken as a single lump sum, and this lump sum is entirely tax-free provided it stays within the available Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (£1,073,100 for most people), rather than only 25% being tax-free as would apply to an ordinary withdrawal. This terminal illness rule can apply at any age, even to someone in their twenties or thirties with a terminal diagnosis, and does not require them to have reached 55 first. Different pension schemes, particularly defined benefit schemes such as the NHS or Teachers' Pension Scheme, have their own specific ill-health retirement rules and tiers (sometimes distinguishing between permanent incapacity for your current job versus for any job at all), so anyone facing a serious diagnosis should contact their specific pension provider or scheme administrator directly and promptly to understand their options.

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