When will early retirement age rise

ajbell

When will early retirement age rise from 55 ?.
I am 50 (born in1964) and my state retirement age is 67.
Can i still retire at 55. I thought that the early retirement age was rising with the state pension age.

xylophone

http://www.citytrustees.co.uk/news_archive/2015/10-04-15.aspx

but

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2967477/Pension-age-increase-axed.html

SnowMan

ajbell wrote: »

When will early retirement age rise from 55 ?.
I am 50 (born in1964) and my state retirement age is 67.
Can i still retire at 55. I thought that the early retirement age was rising with the state pension age.

The minimum age at which pension pots can be accessed is currently (in most cases) 55.

The indication is that this will rise to 57 (10 years before SPA) when State Pension Age increases to age 67, which is planned to be between 2026 and 2028. Thereafter it will be 10 years before SPA which means the minimum age will increase as SPA increases.

If they bring forward when State Pension Age will rise to 67 then the minimum age could increase earlier. However they have said that they will give 10 years notification of further SPA increases so that means that they shouldn't increase the minimum age until at least 2025 or 2026 say by which time you will already be 55.

The 10 years before SPA is not 10 years before your individual SPA, but 10 years before the SPA of people reaching SPA at the time you access your pension. Note when SPA increases to age 66 there is no suggestion the minimum age will increase to 56, the first increase is expected when SPA increases to age 67 in 2026 to 2028.

Of course that is all based on what has currently been said and that is not set in stone, so there is no absolute gurantee you will be able to access your pension at age 55.

dunstonh

Can i still retire at 55. I thought that the early retirement age was rising with the state pension age.

You can retire at any age. However, if you want to use the pension as your income then that is 55.

The linking to 10 years less than state pension age by 2028 didn't make either the Taxation of Pensions Act 2014 or the Finance Act 2015. At this time, it is still sitting as a proposal which will be enacted in a future act.

nicknameless

This is a worry as I turn 55 in August 2026 and the missus in Dec 2025. Personal pensions (and hence access) are a big part of our planning to push off early from work and this could mess with things significantly. I know we can hedge more outside of pension savings but just over 10 years from the fact it would be good to have a modicum of certainty.

Snakey

I'm 43 and am hoping that this particular proposed change will get quietly abandoned in favour of the much bigger pension overhaul that's (presumably) going to be announced - although probably not in any detail, since they have to at least pretend to be carefully considering the condoc responses - in the Autumn Statement.

Assuming we are to get a completely new type of pension, it would be straightforward enough to keep the current access age for "old style" plans (which will be closed to future contributions) while making the "new style" plans whatever age or formula you like. This benefits those of us in our thirties and forties - an age-range which includes a lot of the decision-makers and influencers - while most people younger than that probably have no idea that retiring at 55 is even "a thing" anyway, so there may not even be much of an outcry.

dunstonh

This is a worry as I turn 55 in August 2026 and the missus in Dec 2025. Personal pensions (and hence access) are a big part of our planning to push off early from work and this could mess with things significantly.

That is 2 years before the proposal. So, you would just crystallise the pension at age 55.

gadgetmind

There are threats to push the age at which people can use the new pension freedoms upwards from age 55. I have no idea how serious these are now what form implementation would take.

greenglide

but just over 10 years from the fact it would be good to have a modicum of certainty.

So you do all your planning on a worst case scenario (at present) that it will be 67.

nicknameless

dunstonh wrote: »

That is 2 years before the proposal. So, you would just crystallise the pension at age 55.

I was reading that it was to proposed to be implemented between 2026 and 2028 and therefore could impact on me.

nicknameless

greenglide wrote: »

So you do all your planning on a worst case scenario (at present) that it will be 67.

I understand that. It's just that personal pensions will help bridge a gap in the most efficient manner until occupational pensions kick in, especially under the new pension rules. A delay in access makes that gap more difficult to bridge - we hope to be in a position to have flexibility in work from much earlier than 55.