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The minimum pension age rises to 57 in 2028. Many public sector members keep 55.

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Fact-checked 18 September 2026

Educational, not advice. This guide explains how the rules work. It doesn’t tell you what to do with your pension. For decisions that depend on your circumstances, talk to a regulated adviser or MoneyHelper.

Two Georgian front doors side by side: number 55 painted teal and standing open, number 57 painted grey and closed
On this page

On 6 April 2028 the minimum pension age, the earliest age most people can take a pension, rises from 55 to 57. It is already law, and most coverage stops there.

For public sector members the headline is the least useful part. Three whole schemes are exempt. In the others, anyone who joined before 4 November 2021 may keep 55 under what the law calls a protected pension age, and the schemes have said very different things about whether they will honour it. One large scheme has not decided at all.

There is also a live consultation. HM Revenue and Customs wants views on what happens to people who are 55 or 56 when the change lands and have already started taking benefits. It closes at 11:59pm on 28 September 2026.

This page sets out who keeps 55, scheme by scheme, and where the gaps are. For how each scheme reduces a pension taken early, see our early retirement comparison.

Minimum pension age 57: what changes on 6 April 2028

The normal minimum pension age is the age before which a pension scheme cannot pay you benefits without a tax charge, unless you retire because of ill health. It has been 55 since April 2010. The Finance Act 2022 raises it to 57 from 6 April 2028.

It is a tax rule, not a scheme rule. It sets the floor under every registered pension scheme in the UK, public and private. Each scheme then sets its own rules above that floor: the age you can retire early with a reduction, the age you get your full pension, and the conditions for both.

Hold on to that split. A tax protection that lets you draw at 55 does not by itself make your scheme pay at 55. The scheme’s own rules have to allow it too.

Armed Forces, Police and Firefighters: exempt, and staying at 55

The Act writes the uniformed services out of the rise altogether. For a scheme set up for the armed forces, the police or firefighters, the minimum pension age is 55 from 6 April 2010 onwards, with no 2028 step. The wording applies “in relation to, and to a member of” such a scheme:

in relation to, and to a member of, a uniformed services pension scheme … on and after that date, 55

Three details are worth pinning down.

  • It covers people who have left. The Act defines these schemes by who they were set up for, people who “are or were” members of the forces, the police or the fire service. A deferred member of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme stays at 55, just as a serving one does. How AFPS 15 early payment works.
  • Reservists are included. The definition names members of the naval, military or air forces “including members of any reserve force”.
  • One police force is not. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary is expressly excluded from the police limb.

HMRC’s own summary is short: “members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service schemes will not be affected by this increase.” See the Armed Forces, Police and Firefighters’ scheme guides for how early retirement works in each.

Protected pension age: how some members keep 55

For everyone else, the Act offers a protection. It is narrow, it turns on precise dates, and it depends on what your scheme’s rules said before the change was announced.

You have a protected pension age in a scheme if all three of these were true:

  • Before 4 November 2021, you had a right under that scheme to take benefits before age 57. That is the date the government announced the protection.
  • The right was unqualified. HMRC’s manual defines that as meaning “the member doesn’t need anyone’s consent to take their benefits”. A right that needs your employer’s agreement does not count.
  • On 11 February 2021, the scheme’s rules already provided for paying benefits before 57. This date tests the scheme, not you.

Where all three hold, your protected pension age is the age you could take benefits from immediately before 4 November 2021, which in the public sector schemes is usually 55.

Two features of the protection catch people out.

It belongs to the scheme, not to you. HMRC’s manual says so directly: “A protected pension age applies on a scheme-by-scheme basis. A member may have a protected pension age under one scheme, but not under another.” Someone with a protected 55 in the Civil Service scheme and a later workplace pension elsewhere can have two different minimum ages at once.

A transfer can end it. HMRC’s guidance says the protection is lost on a transfer to another scheme unless the transfer is a block transfer (several members moving together) or an individual transfer that meets its conditions. Most public sector members will never transfer. If one ever comes up, whether the protection survives is a question for the receiving scheme. The rules on transferring out of a public sector scheme.

Scheme by scheme: who keeps 55

The tax protection is only half the answer. Each scheme also has to decide whether its own rules will keep paying at 55. The schemes have not said the same thing, and they have not said it at the same time.

Teachers’ Pension Scheme

The clearest statement of any scheme. Teachers’ Pensions says a member keeps 55 if they “had service in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme before the announcement regarding NMPA changes on 4 November 2021”, and spells out the consequence:

From 6 April 2028, members with service in the final salary and/or career average scheme up to 3 November 2021 will retain the right to take Early (actuarially adjusted) Retirement or Phased Retirement from age 55 subject to an application being made and the relevant retirement conditions being satisfied.

Teachers who joined the career average scheme for the first time after 3 November 2021 move to 57. The notice adds that “there remain some policy considerations to work through”, and that the Department for Education will update members. It was last updated in October 2025. The Teachers’ Pension Scheme explained, and how phased retirement works.

Civil Service Pension Scheme

Just as clear, and finer grained. The member guidance splits people by joining date:

  • Joined before 6 April 2006: protected at 50 in classic, classic plus and premium, under an older protection from 2006.
  • Joined between 6 April 2006 and 3 November 2021: the minimum age “remains protected at age 55” in premium, nuvos, alpha, the Civil Service AVC scheme and partnership.
  • Joined from 4 November 2021: alpha, the AVC scheme and partnership move to 57.

One exception, and it comes from McCloud. The scheme says members “affected by the 2015 Remedy (McCloud) have a protected minimum pension age of 55 in alpha, even if they only joined from 1 April 2022”. The Civil Service Pension Scheme explained.

NHS Pension Scheme

Here it depends which NHS scheme you are in. Scotland has published a position. England and Wales has not.

England and Wales. The NHS Business Services Authority’s guidance gives the general rule only: “The government intends to increase the minimum pension age to age 57 in April 2028.” We could not find an NHSBSA statement on whether existing members keep 55. That is not the same as saying they do not. It means the scheme has not said, and for members who joined before November 2021 the question is open until it does.

Scotland. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has answered it. Its July 2025 circular says members who “joined the NHS Pension Scheme (Scotland) before 4 November 2021” are protected, and that “the majority of existing members of the scheme will be protected from this change and will retain a protected pension age (PPA) of age 55”. That covers active, deferred, pensioner and pension credit members of the 1995 Section, 2008 Section and 2015 Scheme.

The two schemes are built the same way and sit under the same tax law, so Scotland is a reasonable guide to where England and Wales may land. It is not a statement about England and Wales. The NHS Pension Scheme explained.

Local Government Pension Scheme (England and Wales)

This is the open one. Members who joined before 4 November 2021 may well meet the tax protection. Whether the LGPS rules will let them take their pension at 55 after April 2028 has not been decided.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government consulted on it between October and December 2025, as one of four proposals on access to the scheme. Its first response, in February 2026, dealt with a different proposal: councillors’ access to the scheme. In March 2026 the Scheme Advisory Board recorded that the government would respond on the minimum pension age “later this year”. We have not found that response as at 18 September 2026.

Some funds have told their members the same thing in plain words. One fund bulletin reads: “The Government has not yet confirmed whether LGPS rules will allow protected members to continue accessing their pension from age 55.”

So for an LGPS member in England or Wales, the honest position today is that the tax protection may be in place and the scheme rule is not yet written. We will update this page when the government responds. The LGPS explained.

Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland)

The same gap, stated openly. A Scottish administering fund says most members who joined before 4 November 2021 “will qualify for a PPA of 55”, then adds the catch in one sentence: a person with a protected pension age of 55 “will only be able to take payment of their benefits from 55 if the pension scheme rules allow it”. Scottish Ministers said they would consult on exactly that question. The LGPS in Scotland explained.

Ill-health retirement is not affected

None of this touches ill-health retirement. The tax rule has always had a separate route for it, and HMRC’s manual sets it out plainly: “no pension may be paid before the member reaches normal minimum pension age unless the ill-health condition is met.” Where the ill-health condition is met, a scheme can pay at any age, before 55 or 57 alike.

Each scheme still applies its own test of whether you qualify, and the tests differ. How ill-health retirement works across the public sector schemes.

The HMRC consultation that closes on 28 September

On 6 August 2026 HMRC published draft regulations to deal with a narrow problem the change creates. Picture someone who turns 55 in 2027 and starts drawing a pension. On 6 April 2028 they are 56, below the new minimum, and payments that started legally could suddenly look like payments made too early.

The draft rules are aimed at people who are 55 or 56 on 5 April 2028 and have already become entitled to, or started taking, certain benefits before the change. In outline, they would treat such a person as having reached 57 for the payments concerned, so that income already in payment, and some lump sums, can carry on without an unauthorised payment charge. The payments listed include pension income, pension commencement lump sums and trivial commutation lump sums.

This is separate from the protected pension age above. The protection is about rights you held in 2021. The consultation is about payments already under way in 2028.

It is a technical consultation, written mainly for scheme administrators and advisers, but anyone can respond. Responses go to policypensions@hmrc.gov.uk by 11:59pm on 28 September 2026. The consultation page and draft regulations are on GOV.UK.

What decides your own position

None of this calls for a decision now. It does change what a sensible planning assumption looks like, and three facts settle it.

  • Which scheme you are in. Armed Forces, Police and Firefighters’ members stay at 55 whatever else is true.
  • When you joined. For the other schemes, service before 4 November 2021 is the line the protection turns on. Your scheme’s records hold the date if you are not sure.
  • Whether your scheme has confirmed it. Teachers’ and Civil Service members have a clear answer. NHS members in England and Wales, and LGPS members, are waiting on one.

Being able to take a pension at 55 is not the same as it being a good idea at 55. Every scheme reduces a pension taken early, and the reductions are large. What each scheme publishes about early retirement reductions.

Pension Plain’s take

“The minimum pension age is going up to 57” is true, and for public sector members it is the least informative sentence you can write about it. The uniformed schemes never moved. Most teachers and civil servants already in their schemes before November 2021 have been told in writing that they keep 55. The large groups left without an answer are NHS members in England and Wales and LGPS members, and that is not because the answer is bad. Nobody has given it yet.

That is the gap worth watching. Protection exists in tax law, but it only becomes a real option when the scheme rules match it. For some of the country’s largest schemes, that step is still outstanding with less than 19 months to go.

Frequently asked questions

When does the minimum pension age rise to 57?

On 6 April 2028, under the Finance Act 2022. Until then it stays at 55.

Does the rise to 57 apply to the Armed Forces, Police and Firefighters’ schemes?

No. The Act keeps the minimum pension age at 55 for members of uniformed services schemes, including members who have left with a deferred pension and reservists. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary is the one police force outside the exemption.

What is a protected pension age?

A tax protection that lets a member keep an earlier minimum age in a particular scheme. It applies if, before 4 November 2021, the member had an unqualified right in that scheme to take benefits before 57, and the scheme’s rules on 11 February 2021 already allowed it. It applies scheme by scheme and can be lost on some transfers.

Do teachers keep a minimum pension age of 55?

Teachers’ Pensions says members with service in the final salary or career average scheme up to 3 November 2021 keep the right to early or phased retirement from 55. Teachers who first joined the career average scheme after 3 November 2021 move to 57.

Can LGPS members still take their pension at 55 after April 2028?

Not yet decided. Members who joined before 4 November 2021 may meet the tax protection, but the government has not yet confirmed whether the LGPS rules will let them draw at 55. A response was expected in 2026 and had not been published as at 18 September 2026.

Does the change affect ill-health retirement?

No. Ill-health retirement has its own route in the tax rules and can be paid before the minimum pension age if the ill-health condition is met. Each scheme still applies its own eligibility test.

Where to get help

Pension Plain explains how the rules work. It does not give financial advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about when to take your pension.

  • MoneyHelper offers free, impartial, government-backed guidance on pensions: moneyhelper.org.uk
  • For regulated advice on your own position, an FCA-authorised adviser is the route. The register is at register.fca.org.uk
  • For the date you joined, or whether your scheme will pay at 55, your scheme administrator holds the record and the rules.

Pension Plain is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This is information, not advice.

Sources

Fact-checked: 18 September 2026

Last updated 18 September 2026

Written by

James Heppe-Smith is the editor of Pension Plain. He founded The Savvy Investor’s Guide and writes about UK pensions, ISAs, SIPPs and tax-efficient saving. Pension Plain reflects his preference for primary sources and plain English over jargon. He is not an FCA-regulated adviser and Pension Plain does not provide regulated financial advice.

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