From 2028 the age in which people will be able to access their pension will rise from age 55 to age 57.

Cast your mind back to March 2014 and George Osborne’s pensions flexibility Budget.  In the first consultation paper on those reforms, there was the following statement:

 

“‘The government…..proposes to increase the age at which an individual can take their private pension savings at the same rate as the increase in the State Pension age.  It is important people have the opportunity to plan properly for this change and so the government proposes to wait until 2028 (when the State Pension age will rise to 67) to fully implement this change.  From 2028, people will not be able to draw their private pension benefits without a tax penalty until age 57, whether or not this is the point at which they stop work.  From then on, the minimum pension age in the tax rules will rise in line with the State Pension age so that it is always ten years below.”

 

That proposal for a steadily increasing normal minimum pension age (NMPA) has languished ever since, with no legislation to bring it into being.  The procrastination had started to make some people wonder whether the idea had been quietly parked, especially in recent years when government majorities on anything mildly contentious were by no means guaranteed.

At long lost the silence has been broken.  On 3 September John Glen, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, confirmed in a written parliamentary answer to a question from Stephen Timms that the NMPA will rise to 57 from 2028.  Although no specific date has emerged (there are no details yet on the Treasury or Parliament websites), it seems probable the change will take effect from 6 April 2028, catching anyone born after 5 April 1973.