Retirement Age and Pension Age
Retirement age will depend on the pension holder and the pension scheme they hold. For instance many employers have a specific retirement age listed in their contracts. Compulsory retirement age is becoming less common, and are unlawful unless it can be justified.
However, there is a national default retirement age of 65.
This allows for mandatory retirement over this age, so long as employees have the right to request working beyond retirement age. Pension Age, sometimes abbreviated to Normal Pension Age (NPA), depends on your pension scheme.
This refers to the age at which the employee can draw their pension without losing any benefits.
Retirement Age and claiming state pension
You can retire at any age, but you can only claim State Pension when you reach State Pension Age. For men born before 6 December 1953 the current state pension age is 65, while for women born before 6 April 1950 it's 60.
However, for women born after 6 April 1950 and before 6 December 1953, the state pension age is between 60 and 65.
For both men and women, the State Pension Age is set to increase to 66 between November 2018 and October 2020, to 67 between 2034 and 2036 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046.
To work out your state pension age, take a look at the calculator on the Pensions Advisory Service website.
Retirement Age and claiming company or personal pension
At this stage, the earliest once can claim a company or personal pension is 55. However, this may depend on pension scheme regulations.
Ill-health and pension age
If you have serious ill-health resulting in life expectancy of less than a year, you may retire at any age taking 100%of pension as a tax-free lump sum. However, if you are married or have a civil partner, 50% of pension fund must be saved to provide a survivor's pension.
