Taking your pension
Your normal pension age is 63 if you joined the Group after 1 April 1988. If you joined before 1 April 1988 and were in continuous employment until 17 May 1990, your normal pension age is 60 with the right to carry on working.
Men, with a normal pension age of 60, who choose to retire between 60 and 63 will have the part of their benefit which relates to pensionable service before 17 May 1990 reduced for early payment. You can get more detailed information from Railpen.
You can currently choose to retire at any time from age 55*, provided you have at least five years' service, but your pension and your lump sum will be reduced to take account of the fact that they are being paid early.
* Please note, the minimum retirement age is rising to 57 from April 2028. However, if your pensionable service in the Group commenced before 4 November 2021 you will retain a protected minimum retirement age of 55.
Your normal pension age is 63 if you joined the Scheme after 1 April 1988. If you joined before 1 April 1988 and were in continuous employment until 17 May 1990, your normal pension age is 60 with the right to carry on working.
If you carry on working after normal pension age, you will build up extra years of contributing service up to a maximum of 45 years.
If your normal pension age is 63, you will be required to pay contributions for the extra pensionable service you build up after age 63. If your normal pension age is 60, no further contributions are payable if you work after age 60, but you will still build up extra pensionable service.
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) is a limit placed on the value of benefits in registered pension schemes that you accumulate in your lifetime and is currently £1,073,100 (2023/2023 tax year).
The Lifetime Allowance tax charge in respect of savings in excess of the LTA was removed from April 2023, and the Lifetime Allowance will be abolished from April 2024.
Retirement cash
From April 2023, the maximum amount that can be taken as tax-free cash has been capped at 25% of the current Lifetime Allowance (i.e. £268,275), unless you have particular LTA protection which allows you to take a higher amount.
More information is available on the MoneyHelper website here (you will be directed to an external site).
Planning for the future
If you are approaching retirement or if you are interested in pre-retirement planning and exploring your options, please click on the button below to access our online pre-retirement guide:
Planning for the future
The guide provides pre-retirement planning support and tells you more about:
- The benefits provided by the Group
- When you can retire, including the process for early, normal and late retirement
- Alternative options to taking your pension from the Group, such as transferring your pension, and, if you are eligible, how to access funded financial advice should you need it.