Frequently asked questions about your Protected Pension Age options

Yes, the Transfer Amount(s) will be invested using the investment options selected for these transfer payments under your existing plan.

Yes, the plan charges will be the same under both plans.

Royal London are unable to give you any tax/financial advice, so we recommend that you speak to a financial adviser. A financial adviser can give you personalised advice and recommendations. If you don't already have an adviser, you can find one here.

Advisers will usually charge for their services.

There’s a free guidance service also available through the government backed website Pension Wise (opens in a new window) that is available for people over age 50.

No. Choosing to retain your PPA does not mean that you must take your retirement savings under the new plan at age 55 , only that you still can if you choose to. If you decide not to take the benefits at that time, your pension savings will remain invested in the plan.

No further contributions can be paid into the new plan, other than any additional transfer payment(s) with the same PPA.

With people typically living longer nowadays and spending a larger proportion of their life in retirement than ever before, the government is keen to ensure that people don’t access their pension savings earlier than they might need to. 

As a result, the government is changing the minimum pension age from age 55 to age 57 from 6 April 2028.  This coincides with the separate rise in the State Pension age that is happening at the same time.

The new minimum pension age is the earliest age that most people will be able to access their pension savings after that date. Individuals will still be able to access their pension savings after their 57th birthday.

Yes, there are. Members of uniformed service pension schemes are not affected by the minimum pension age increase, this includes:

• the naval, military or air forces of the Crown (including members of any reserve force)
• a police force other than the Civil Nuclear Constabulary
• firefighters

Some individuals will have a protected pension age, which is the right to take pension benefits before the new minimum pension age of 57. This will depend on their pension scheme rules.

There are no changes for individuals who already have an existing protected pension age of less than 55 from previous changes to the minimum pension age.

A protected pension age is the right to take pension benefits before the normal minimum pension age.

A protected pension age applies at scheme level so an individual may have a protected pension age under one pension plan, but not under another pension plan.

Different rules apply depending on the type of protection that applies.

In 2010, when the minimum pension age changed from age 50 to age 55, there were two forms of protected pension age that existed. Depending on the type of scheme the individual was in on 5 April 2006:

• Some individuals in certain occupations (opens in a new window) with low retirement ages (such as sports people), who had a right before April 2006 to draw their pension before age 50, may have a protected pension age. If so, they have a reduced ‘lifetime allowance’ (LTA) if they take their benefits before age 55.
• Members of occupational pension schemes on 5 April 2006 may have a protected pension age if on 5 April 2006 they had a right to take benefits before age 55. The right must be unqualified, so that the individual does not need the consent of anybody before they draw their pension.

Protection could be lost in certain circumstances. For example, a protected pension age is lost if:

• The individual chooses to transfer their benefits to another pension scheme unless it’s a block (or buddy) transfer or part of a scheme wind-up.
• The individual doesn’t become entitled to all the rights under the scheme on the same day.
• The individual had been a member of the scheme they transfer to for more than 12 months.

The individual will have a protected pension age under a scheme if:

• before 4 November 2021 they had the right to take benefits before they reached age 57 and that right was unqualified
• on 11 February 2021 the scheme rules included provision to pay benefits before age 57
• they were in the process of a substantive transfer to a scheme before 4 November 2021

Where these conditions are met, the individual’s protected pension age under the scheme will be the age at which they have the right to take benefits immediately before 4 November 2021.

Plans that already had a protected pension age are unaffected by these changes.

Basically, it means the individual doesn’t need anyone’s consent to take their benefits.

An individual has an unqualified right to take benefits if they do not need the consent of anybody before they can take their pension benefits. If the scheme documentation states the consent of the trustees or employer is required to take benefits the individual does not have an unqualified right to take benefits. It does not matter if the trustees have always operated their discretion to allow the payment of early benefits, the right is still not an unqualified right.

Individuals who have an unqualified right to take their benefits before age 57 can transfer their benefits now and maintain that right in their new plan. There are 2 ways of doing this:

• they can do it as part of a block transfer which is where they are transferring at the same time as somebody else from one pension scheme to another
• they can do it as part of an individual transfer

Block transfers

For a block transfer any benefits already in the plan that receives the block transfer will benefit from the lower minimum pension age as will anything that builds up after the transfer.

Individual transfer 

For an individual transfer, individuals can transfer on their own and not as part of a block transfer and maintain their protected pension age. But these benefits need to be ring-fenced and the protection will only apply to the benefits from that transfer. This means any benefits already in the plan and any new benefits that build up from contributions after the transfer will not benefit from the protected pension age.

The State Pension age is increasing to age 67 from 6 April 2028. This is separate to the minimum pension age changes that are happening at the same time.

The State Pension age is the age at which a person becomes entitled to the State pension and is paid by the government.

You can get a State Pension forecast to see how much you're likely to get and when by visiting gov.uk/state-pension

We are writing to customers directly impacted by the change in minimum pension age legislation. This includes:

• Customers who currently have a chosen pension age of less than 57 but will not be old enough to start to take their pension benefits before the new minimum pension age comes into force; and
• Customers who will have a window to take their pension benefits at age 55 but then will be impacted by the change in the minimum pension age and so may have to wait until they are 57 before they will be able to take more of their pension benefits.

Where a plan is set up with a pension age of less than 57, but the customer will not be old enough to start to take their pension benefits before the new minimum pension age comes into force, we will be changing the chosen pension age on the plan to age 57.  This change will be made to relevant plans by the end of 2023.

Any plan documents that we have recently sent to customers or that we send before the change has been applied to customers’ plans will still refer to the current pension age.

This will depend on the type of pension contract that you have with Royal London. 

Within our customer letters we have called out the key areas that may or may not be affected by changing the chosen pension age.

These include things like plan charges, investments, remuneration and contributions and how they might be impacted.

Plan terms and conditions will also provide more detail on the rules that apply for specific plans.

No, the minimum pension age is the earliest age that most people will be able to first access their pension savings.

Individuals will still have the choice to access their pension savings at any point after that age, at the time that suits their circumstances the best.

We will send you information as you approach the chosen pension age on your plan to provide more detail about the different options that are available and to help you to make a decision. However, we can’t provide advice on what you should do.

We recommend speaking to a financial adviser.  A financial adviser can give you personalised advice and recommendations. If you don't already have an adviser you can find one here.

Advisers will usually charge for their services.

There’s a free guidance service also available through the government backed website Pension Wise (opens in a new window) that is available for people over age 50.