Govt confirms pension freedom age hike to 57

m_c_s

This was expected but Govt confirmed in a commons question today that 2028 will now be legislated for to change DC pension access from age 55 to 57.
https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2020/09/03/govt-confirms-pension-freedom-age-hike-to-57/

Silvertabby

m_c_s said:

This was expected but Govt confirmed in a commons question today that 2028 will now be legislated for to change DC pension access from age 55 to 57.
https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2020/09/03/govt-confirms-pension-freedom-age-hike-to-57/

Will surely apply to DB pensions as well. Yes, I know that 'pension freedoms' only apply to DC schemes, but can you imagine the fuss if public sector pensioners can still access their benefits from 55, when private sector DC pensioners have to wait until 57?

Dandytf

I had been reading that change for some time.
I recently changed my 'preferred' retirement age to 57, don't  see my managing until 60.
Is the +2 years one of the 'Difficult' questions being asked -to help with Future generations.

PParka

Any guesses on when the cut off will be?
if it’s April 2028 I’ll be fine... if it’s January then I’ll have to wait an extra 2 years to access my pension. 

Silvertabby

PParka said:

Any guesses on when the cut off will be?
if it’s April 2028 I’ll be fine... if it’s January then I’ll have to wait an extra 2 years to access my pension. 

The last increase, from 50 to 55, was 6 April 2010.
6 April is the start of the financial year, so likely (but no guarantees!) that will be the case again  in 2028.

ratechaser

So that's me impacted, for the sake of 2 days the wrong side of the tax year. 

Expected, but a bit irritating nonetheless...

hugheskevi

PParka said:

Any guesses on when the cut off will be?
if it’s April 2028 I’ll be fine... if it’s January then I’ll have to wait an extra 2 years to access my pension. 

State Pension age reaches 67 on 6th March 2028, and as the change was described in the consultation response as being to make minimum pension age equal to State Pension age minus 10 years it would be very surprising if it was before then, but much more likely to align to financial year.

I think it now highly unlikely the change would taper in rather than be a cliff-edge (as proposed in the original consultation), but I suppose that can't be entirely discounted until the legislation is laid.

Will be interesting to see if any protection is given, similar to the 2010 protections, for those with a pension at a particular date, eg, 2014.

Will also be interesting to see if the change when legislated is simply for a change to 57 or whether it is State Pension age minus 10 years.

garmeg

Silvertabby said:

PParka said:

Any guesses on when the cut off will be?
if it’s April 2028 I’ll be fine... if it’s January then I’ll have to wait an extra 2 years to access my pension. 

The last increase, from 50 to 55, was 6 April 2010.
6 April is the start of the financial year, so likely (but no guarantees!) that will be the case again  in 2028.

In theory it would be 6 March 2028 as that is the earliest date that a person retires at 67.

However it would make more sense to align with the tax year start date of 6 April 2028. However, whatever date is chosen, someone is going to be a bit, ahem, annoyed.

Newbeard

Silvertabby,

Most public sector schemes have a NPA of state pension age after the 2015 reforms were introduced. Uniformed services have a NPA of 60 so the DC schemes can still be accessed earlier then public sector DB schemes.

hugheskevi

Newbeard said:

Most public sector schemes have a NPA of state pension age after the 2015 reforms were introduced. Uniformed services have a NPA of 60 so the DC schemes can still be accessed earlier then public sector DB schemes.

Normal Pension age is different to Minimum Pension age, with NPA being the age at which unreduced pension is payable from.

DB schemes can be accessed - usually with actuarial reduction - from the same age as private sector schemes (subject to any protected minimum pension ages and restrictions scheme rules (rather than HMRC rules) may impose about permitting access).

Newbeard

Hugheskevi, point taken. I should have said taken earlier without actuarial reduction.