Taking your pension early
Currently the earliest you can take you pension is age 55. However, the government is planning to increase this to age 57 from 5 April 2028. If you take your pension early, before your normal pension age (NPA), it will be reduced. This is because the pension will be paid to you for longer than expected.
The amount your pension will be reduced by will depend on:
- the date you joined the LGPS
- the date you want to take your pension
- how close you are to your NPA.
Your pension won’t be reduced if:
- you’re retiring at any age because of ill-health
- you’re over age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028) and are made redundant or retired because of business efficiency
- your employer agrees not to. This is called an employer discretion. You can ask them what their policy is on this.
How much will my pension be reduced by?
The current reductions for taking your benefits up to 13 years early are shown in the table below. If the number of years is not exact, the reductions will be adjusted.
The Government changed the reductions on 3 July 2023. The reductions shown below apply to retirements from that date. The Government reviews these factors from time to time so they could change in the future.
| Years Early | Pension Reduction | Lump sum (for membership to 31 March 2008) |
| 0 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 1 | 4.9% | 1.7% |
| 2 | 9.3% | 3.3% |
| 3 | 13.5% | 4.9% |
| 4 | 17.4% | 6.5% |
| 5 | 20.9% | 8.1% |
| 6 | 24.3% | 9.6% |
| 7 | 27.4% | 11.1% |
| 8 | 30.3% | 12.6% |
| 9 | 33.0% | 14.1% |
| 10 | 35.6% | 15.5% |
| 11 | 39.5% | N/A |
| 12 | 41.8% | N/A |
| 13 | 43.9% | N/A |
