When can you take your pension? The 2028 rise to 57, and what it means if you are American.

GuideEdale Financial PlanningLast reviewed 18 min read

This guide is for anyone with a UK pension who has been told the money is reachable at 55, and for Americans in Britain whose US accounts run on a different clock. The earliest age a UK scheme may normally pay benefits rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028. There is no phasing and no transitional relief, so people born between 6 April 1971 and 5 April 1973 can reach their pension at 55 only until 5 April 2028. For a US taxpayer the change is no US penalty event, but it narrows the gap between UK access and penalty-free US access at 59½ from four and a half years to two and a half.

When can I take my UK pension — is it 55 or 57?

Until 5 April 2028 it is 55; from 6 April 2028 it is 57. The floor is the normal minimum pension age, in section 279(1) of the Finance Act 2004 and policed by pension rule 1 in section 165(1): no pension may be paid before a member reaches it unless the ill-health condition is met. Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 replaced that definition, so pension rule 1 moves with it[2][3][9].

The UK normal minimum pension age since 2006
PeriodNormal minimum pension age
6 April 2006 to 5 April 201050
6 April 2010 to 5 April 202855
From 6 April 202857
Uniformed services schemes — armed forces, firefighters, and police other than the Civil Nuclear Constabulary55, unchanged by the rise

NMPA is a tax floor, not an entitlement: scheme rules decide what can be taken and when, and may set higher ages[1]. Nor is it State Pension age, which is 67 for those born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977[17] — ten years above the new NMPA, the stated reason for the timing[2].

Am I affected by the rise to 57, and how does my date of birth decide it?

Three groups, decided purely by birth date, because the rule is a single cliff edge. HMRC has published no date table, so the bands below are our arithmetic from the statutory date[1][2][9].

Who is affected by the rise to 57, by date of birth (our arithmetic from the statutory date)
Date of birthTurns 55Turns 57Effect
On or before 5 April 1971By 5 April 2026By 5 April 2028Unaffected
6 April 1971 to 5 April 19736 Apr 2026 – 5 Apr 20286 Apr 2028 – 5 Apr 2030The window group: 55 only until 5 April 2028, then 57
On or after 6 April 1973From 6 April 2028From 6 April 2030Waits until 57

The edges matter. Someone born on exactly 6 April 1971 turns 57 the day the new age takes effect, so has no gap. It is longest for someone born on 5 April 1973: 55 on the last day of the old regime, 57 on 5 April 2030 — locked out just under two years. One date governs every scheme they hold, unless a protected pension age applies[4][5].

What is the window that closes on 5 April 2028, and what happens if I miss it?

If you turn 55 before 6 April 2028 but 57 after it, you can take benefits during what is left of the old regime. If you do not, you wait. There is no transitional relief.

The Government recognised the problem: its July 2021 consultation response identified members who reach “age 55 but not age 57 by 6 April 2028 and for whom a transitional issue may arise”, and said it would “provide further advice on the proposed transitional arrangements and provisions in due course”[10]. As at October 2026 nothing of that kind appears in the legislation or HMRC’s manual[3][6][9].

“Taking benefits in the window” is not one action. A tax-free lump sum alone, with the rest designated to drawdown and no income drawn, is not among HMRC’s money purchase annual allowance trigger events, so contribution capacity survives. Drawdown income is a trigger, cutting money-purchase contributions from £60,000 to £10,000 a year; so is an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum[14][15].

The case against acting deserves equal weight: crystallising to beat a deadline can mean taking cash years early, paying tax at a higher rate than later, losing contribution capacity, and fixing a market level you did not choose. Beating a date is not a reason to act, and this is general information, not personal advice. For a US taxpayer it is harder still: the UK charges nothing on the tax-free lump sum, so no UK tax arises to credit against any US liability — see UK tax-free cash for US taxpayers[18][19].

Do I have a protected pension age that lets me keep 55 or 56?

Possibly, under one of two regimes. Protection attaches to a scheme, not a person, and most modern SIPPs are unlikely to qualify under the newer one.

The 2028 protection sits in paragraph 23ZB of Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2004, inserted by section 10 of the Finance Act 2022. HMRC states three conditions: the scheme rules on 11 February 2021 “included provision to pay benefits before age 57”; the member held that right before 4 November 2021, the cut-off set by the legislation; and the right was unqualified, “in that the member doesn’t need anyone’s consent”. The explanatory notes describe the protection as safeguarding a right to benefits “from an age of less than 57, but not less than age 55”[4][5][9].

The practical filter is what the rules said on 11 February 2021. Rules fixing a number — “55” — can satisfy the condition; rules referring dynamically to “normal minimum pension age” move with the statute and so arguably give no right to benefits before 57. HMRC has not addressed this, and the practitioner reading — that dynamic wording confers no protection, excluding most modern SIPPs — is unconfirmed[4][5]. Only written confirmation from your provider settles it.

The consultation response said the protection would cover “all the member’s benefits under the scheme”, including accrual after 6 April 2028; HMRC does not restate that, so treat it as policy intention rather than guidance[5][10]. The firefighters, police and armed forces public service schemes keep 55 by the legislation, not by protection, “even if their scheme rules did not confer a PPA on members on 11 February 2021”[1][10].

The 2010 protection, in paragraphs 21 to 23 of Schedule 36, is unchanged by the rise and narrower: membership on 5 April 2006 with an unqualified right to benefits before 55, under rules that on 10 December 2003 “included provision to pay benefits before age 55”[4][7]; for personal pensions and retirement annuity contracts, before 50, and only where the member’s occupation on 5 April 2006 was one prescribed in regulations[8]. It “can be any age under the normal minimum pension age”, but all benefits under that scheme must be taken on one date — so partial crystallisation can destroy it — and it is lost on re-employment by certain persons[7].

What happens to my protected pension age if I transfer my pension?

Under the 2028 regime a transfer need not destroy protection, but on an individual transfer only the money that moved is protected, and it must be kept separate.

HMRC’s position is that a member with a 2028 protected pension age “will lose that protection if they transfer”, unless it is a block or an individual transfer[6]. A block transfer passes the protected age to the receiving scheme; since 4 November 2021 it needs more than one member, a single transaction, and a transfer of “all the pension rights under the scheme for all the members transferring”. On an individual transfer, under paragraph 23ZC, members with a protected age of 55 or 56 “can transfer individual arrangements and retain protection”, and the receiving scheme needs none of its own — a liberalisation the Government described as reducing “the restrictions on retaining a protected pension age”[1][6].

Ring-fencing is the catch. HMRC says the protected age “doesn’t apply to other sums or assets already held in the receiving scheme, or any that are subsequently put into the scheme either by pension contribution or transfer”, and the transferred rights “will require ring-fencing”[6][10]. Consolidating pots into one SIPP can therefore leave one ring-fenced slice reachable at 55 and the rest at 57. Under the 2010 regime “a member may lose their protected pension age if they transfer to another pension scheme”[8], so a 2028 transfer is survivable but narrowing, while a 2010 one is usually fatal unless it is a block transfer.

Can I reach my pension before 57 if I am ill?

Yes. Ill-health access has no minimum age and is unaffected by the 2028 change. But the test is medical incapacity for your own job, not whether you are unwell.

The ill-health condition in paragraph 1 of Schedule 28 to the Finance Act 2004 requires evidence, from a practitioner registered under the Medical Act 1983, that the member “is, and will continue to be, medically incapable … of continuing their current occupation” — and the member must cease it[3]. It is an occupational test, and scheme rules may be stricter than the statute. A serious ill-health lump sum, needing medical evidence of a life expectancy under a year, likewise has no minimum age, and below 75 is tax free up to the lump sum and death benefit allowance (£1,073,100 as standard for 2026/27)[12][16]. Neither route changes the US position, where the exceptions are separate tests such as being “totally and permanently disabled”[22].

What if I have already started taking my pension before April 2028?

This is the weakest-documented corner of the change. Benefits you have already become entitled to should keep being paid, but HMRC has not confirmed the position, and the transitional provisions promised in 2021 never appeared.

Pension rule 1 bars payment before normal minimum pension age[3]. Read literally, as a test at the point of payment, that is uncomfortable for a 56-year-old drawing drawdown on 6 April 2028. HMRC’s drawdown page notes the increase but says nothing about existing payments[11].

Two reputable sources give materially different messages, and we report both rather than choose. Royal London’s adviser technical guidance takes the view that where entitlement arose before 6 April 2028, existing scheme pensions, annuities and drawdown income continue — but no new drawdown arrangements or further tax-free cash until 57[28]. MoneyHelper, run by the government’s Money and Pensions Service, warns that people then aged 55 or 56 “might lose access to your pension until you turn 57 — even if you’ve already taken money”[27]. Neither is HMRC guidance, and HMRC has published nothing that resolves it.

So if you expect to draw across 6 April 2028 at 55 or 56, ask the scheme to confirm in writing that it will keep paying, and plan a fallback. Phased strategies are the most exposed: a new designation after 5 April 2028 needs 57 or a protected age[6][11].

I am a US taxpayer — does taking my UK pension at 57 trigger the US 10% early-withdrawal penalty?

No — and not because of an exception you have to claim. The 10% additional tax is not imposed on foreign pensions at all: it reaches only distributions from a “qualified retirement plan” as defined for the purpose, and a UK registered scheme is not one. The deeper asymmetry is that the US has no normal minimum pension age: the UK’s rule is a prohibition on payment, the US’s a price.

The additional tax in section 72(t) of the Internal Revenue Code applies to amounts from a “qualified retirement plan (as defined in section 4974(c))”. That section lists five US arrangements — section 401(a) plans with a trust exempt under section 501(a), section 403(a) annuity plans, section 403(b) annuity contracts, and section 408(a) and 408(b) IRAs and individual retirement annuities — and reaches nothing else unless the Secretary has determined it to be one of them[20]. The IRS restates the same perimeter[21].

A UK registered scheme is registered under Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004, not under section 401(a), 403 or 408, so it is outside section 4974(c). That rests on the statutory perimeter, not on any exception — and the limit is worth stating: no regulation, revenue ruling or published IRS ruling says in terms that a UK registered scheme is outside section 4974(c).

What still applies:

  • US income tax. Article 17(1)(a) of the 2001 Convention makes pensions taxable “only” in the state of residence, but the saving clause in Article 1(4) lets a state “by reason of citizenship … tax its citizens”, and Article 1(5) preserves neither Article 17(1)(a) nor 17(2)[18]. A US citizen in the UK is taxed by both countries, with credit relief under Article 24. HMRC: “the US can tax lump sums received by US citizens from UK schemes”[19]. Filing obligations are unchanged by the access age; see UK pensions for US persons.
  • The net investment income tax is unresolved. The regulation excluding retirement distributions from net investment income lists only sections 401(a), 403(a), 403(b), 408, 408A and 457(b) arrangements, so a UK scheme is outside it on its own terms[25]. Whether such a payment is net investment income at all is a further question, on which we found no IRS guidance. We do not assert the tax applies.
  • A transfer is not neutral. In written determination 201231010 the IRS held that a lump-sum transfer from a US section 403(b) account to a UK scheme that is not an “eligible retirement plan” is not a rollover and is taxable in the US as a distribution[26]. Determinations are not precedent, but the age mismatch cannot be solved by moving US money into a UK scheme.

What should an American understand about drawing UK benefits between 57 and 59½?

From April 2028 the UK pot opens two and a half years before the US accounts do. The 10% additional tax stops at 59½[22][23], and before 6 April 2028 the comparison was 55 against 59½. The change narrows the UK/US access gap from four and a half years to two and a half. A shorter bridge to fund, and a shorter window in which the UK pot is the only flexible penalty-free source.

US routes to retirement money before 59½, and their limits (IRS guidance and Notice 2022-6)[22][23][24]
RouteWhat it allowsKey limits
Separation from service at 55 or laterNo 10% tax on the employer plan you leftSeparation must fall in or after the calendar year you reached 55; not for IRAs, so a rollover forfeits it
Substantially equal periodic paymentsPayments at any age, free of the 10% taxThree methods under Notice 2022-6; must run for the later of five years or 59½, with recapture plus interest if modified
Public safety employees at 50; governmental 457(b) plans; disability, death, IRS levy, medical expenses; several capped carve-outsVariousEach has its own test

Three consequences follow, none a recommendation.

  • Sequencing. In that window the UK pot is often the only penalty-free flexible source, and funding spending in the other currency over a short period concentrates exchange-rate risk. Whether to use it depends on marginal rates in both systems, not on availability.
  • The foreign tax credit needs UK tax to exist. Taxable UK pension income is taxed at 20% above £12,570, 40% above £50,270 and 45% above £125,140 in 2026/27, with the personal allowance withdrawn by £1 for every £2 above £100,000[16] — usually enough credit to absorb the US liability. The tax-free quarter generates no UK tax and so no credit: the UK’s most attractive feature is the US’s most exposed one.
  • The money purchase annual allowance. Drawing taxable income at 57 while still working cuts money-purchase contributions from £60,000 to £10,000[14][15] — a double loss for a US person, since UK contributions are how treaty relief arises at all[18].

Worked example: a 17-month gap in a US–UK household (illustrative)

Maya Okafor-Hale and Dan Hale are a fictional household, for illustration only. Maya, born 12 September 1972, is a dual US/UK citizen in England who plans to stop work in September 2027; Dan, born 4 February 1970, is British only. Assumptions: UK tax at 2026/27 rules held constant, lump sum allowance £268,275, annual allowance £60,000, money purchase annual allowance £10,000[15][16]; NMPA 57 from 6 April 2028[1]; no protected pension age, Maya’s SIPP rules having tracked NMPA on 11 February 2021; spending £46,000 a year net. The figures are our own arithmetic: illustrative, not a forecast, and not guaranteed.

The household and the dates that matter (illustrative)
ItemValueWhen it is reachable
Maya — UK SIPP£420,00055 on 12 Sep 2027; locked from 6 Apr 2028; 57 on 12 Sep 2029
Maya — former-employer workplace pot£180,000The same dates
Maya — US 401(k); left in 2019, aged 46$310,00010% additional tax applies until 59½
Dan — UK SIPP£260,00057 on 4 Feb 2027: reachable throughout
ISA, investment account and cash£185,000Throughout

Maya turns 55 on 12 September 2027, about seven months before the rules change. From 6 April 2028 she is locked out until 11 September 2029 — about 17 months, costing roughly £65,000 of net spending. But the household is not short of reachable money: Dan turns 57 before the change, so his £260,000 SIPP is available throughout, and £185,000 sits outside pensions. The rise constrains which pot pays, not whether those months can be paid for. Three courses are worth comparing:

  • A — wait. Take nothing from Maya’s pensions before 57, funding the gap from the ISA, investment account, cash and Dan’s SIPP. Keeps her £60,000 allowance and creates no US charge, but consumes about a third of the reserve.
  • B — drawdown income inside the window. Crystallise in late 2027 so payments run through 2028 and 2029, subject to the unresolved question above. This triggers the money purchase annual allowance[14] — modest here, serious for anyone still contributing.
  • C — tax-free cash only. Take just the lump sum, 25% of £420,000 or £105,000, within the £268,275 allowance. A lump sum alone is no trigger event[14], so the annual allowance survives — but the UK charges no tax on that £105,000, so no credit arises against any US liability on it[18][19].

Her 401(k) cannot help: the separation-from-service exception needs separation in or after the year she reached 55, and she left at 46. A periodic-payment series would have to run for the later of five years or 59½[22][24]. The lesson is not “grab your pension before April 2028”; it is to work out which source pays for the months when the UK door is shut and the US door has not opened. This is general information, not advice.

What does getting this wrong cost, and what should I check now?

A payment before NMPA without ill health or a protected pension age is an unauthorised payment: a charge at “a flat rate of 40%”, plus a 15% surcharge where unauthorised payments in 12 months “add up to 25% or more of the person’s pension rights”, so that “the total tax liability … is 55%”[13]. The scheme faces its own charge too. This is the mechanism behind pension-liberation losses.

Three questions are worth asking:

  1. Does my date of birth fall in the 6 April 1971 to 5 April 1973 band?
  2. Will each provider confirm in writing whether I have a protected pension age, and at what age — and did its rules on 11 February 2021 state an age or track NMPA?
  3. If I am a US taxpayer: is any 401(k) still in the plan rather than an IRA, and what is the cheapest source for the 57-to-59½ window after tax in both systems?

None of this is personal advice, and tax rules change. Related reading: US retirement accounts when you live in the UK and US–UK wealth planning.

How the Edale Wealth Hub helps

Edale’s cashflow planner models the year each pension becomes accessible, and what drawing earlier or later does to the whole plan rather than to one account. An adviser tool works through who is affected by the rise from 55 to 57, whether a protected pension age applies, and the timing available before 6 April 2028.

For a US person the planner calculates UK and US tax in the same year, so the gap between UK access at 57 and the US 59½ threshold can be seen in cash terms: which source funds the bridge, and what each option leaves after tax in both systems.

Outputs depend on the assumptions entered and are not forecasts. Edale does not prepare US tax returns and is not a US-registered investment adviser; tax outputs are summaries for your accountant or tax preparer. To discuss your own dates, arrange a conversation or read about the cashflow planner.

Frequently asked questions

Is the UK pension age really going up to 57?

Yes. The normal minimum pension age rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, under section 10 of the Finance Act 2022. It is a single-date change with no phasing. Members of the armed forces, police and firefighters’ public service schemes keep 55.

I was born in 1972 — can I still take my pension at 55?

Only until 5 April 2028. Anyone born between 6 April 1971 and 5 April 1973 reaches 55 before the change and 57 after it, so access at 55 ends with the current regime. No transitional relief has been published, despite the Government saying in 2021 that it would provide some.

Will I lose access if I am already drawing at 55 or 56 in April 2028?

HMRC has not confirmed the position. Adviser technical guidance takes the view that payments already in place continue and only new crystallisations are blocked. MoneyHelper, a government-backed service, warns that people aged 55 or 56 might lose access until 57 even if they have already taken money. Ask your scheme in writing.

Does my SIPP give me a protected pension age of 55?

Probably not, but only your provider can say. The 2028 protection needs scheme rules that on 11 February 2021 provided for payment before 57, plus an unqualified right held before 4 November 2021. Rules that simply track normal minimum pension age move with the statute, and HMRC has not addressed that distinction.

Does taking a UK pension at 57 trigger the US 10% early-withdrawal penalty?

No. The 10% additional tax applies only to distributions from a qualified retirement plan as defined in section 4974(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, a list of US arrangements that includes no foreign scheme. US income tax still applies to a US citizen, with credit for UK tax under the treaty. No IRS ruling states the point directly.

Can I use my 401(k) to bridge the years before 59½?

Sometimes. If you separated from that employer in or after the calendar year you turned 55, distributions from the plan escape the 10% additional tax — but the exception does not apply to IRAs, so rolling the money over forfeits it. Otherwise substantially equal periodic payments are the main route.

Sources

  1. HM Revenue & Customs and HM Treasury — Increasing Normal Minimum Pension Age (policy paper) (accessed October 2026)
  2. HM Revenue & Customs — Increasing the normal minimum pension age for pensions tax (tax information and impact note) (accessed October 2026)
  3. HMRC — PTM062100, Member benefits: pensions: pension age, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  4. HMRC — PTM062205, Protected pension age: basic principles, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  5. HMRC — PTM062215, Protected pension age: right to take benefits before age 57, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  6. HMRC — PTM062250, Protected pension age: right to keep a protected pension age after transfers 2028, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  7. HMRC — PTM062210, Protected pension age: occupational and public service schemes, right to take benefits before age 55, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  8. HMRC — PTM062220, Protected pension age: personal pension schemes and retirement annuity contracts, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  9. UK Parliament — Finance (No. 2) Bill 2021-22: Explanatory Notes (Bill 184 EN), clause 10, Increase of normal minimum pension age (accessed October 2026)
  10. HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs — Increasing Normal Minimum Pension Age: consultation response, July 2021 (accessed October 2026)
  11. HMRC — PTM062510, Member benefits: pensions: drawdown pension, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  12. HMRC — PTM063400, Member benefits: lump sums: serious ill-health lump sum, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  13. HMRC — PTM134100, Unauthorised payments: the unauthorised payments charge and surcharge, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  14. HMRC — PTM056520, Annual allowance: money purchase annual allowance: trigger events, Pensions Tax Manual (accessed October 2026)
  15. GOV.UK — Pension schemes rates and allowances (accessed October 2026)
  16. HM Revenue & Customs — Income Tax rates and allowances: current and past (accessed October 2026)
  17. Department for Work and Pensions — State Pension age timetable (accessed October 2026)
  18. HM Revenue & Customs — 2001 UK–USA Double Taxation Convention as amended by the 2002 protocol, in force (Articles 1, 3, 17, 18 and 24) (accessed October 2026)
  19. HMRC — DT19853, Double Taxation Relief Manual: guidance by country: United States of America: Notes (accessed October 2026)
  20. Office of the Law Revision Counsel, US House of Representatives — 26 U.S.C. § 4974, Excise tax on certain accumulations in qualified retirement plans, including subsection (c) (accessed October 2026)
  21. Internal Revenue Service — Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs (accessed October 2026)
  22. Internal Revenue Service — Retirement topics: exceptions to tax on early distributions (accessed October 2026)
  23. Internal Revenue Service — Retirement topics: significant ages for retirement plan participants (accessed October 2026)
  24. Internal Revenue Service — Notice 2022-6, Determination of Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (accessed October 2026)
  25. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations — 26 CFR § 1.1411-8, Exception for distributions from qualified plans (accessed October 2026)
  26. Internal Revenue Service — Written determination 201231010, transfer from a US section 403(b) account to a UK pension scheme (not citable as precedent) (accessed October 2026)
  27. MoneyHelper (Money and Pensions Service) — When can I take money from my pension? (accessed October 2026)
  28. Royal London, Technical Central — Protected pension ages, including the increase to 57 in 2028 (adviser technical guidance; secondary source) (accessed October 2026)