55 or over
If you’re 55 or older and have been a member for 2 or more years, we’ll pay the pension you’ve built up until the date you leave right away. Your pension won’t be reduced for early payment, as your employer pays this cost.
If you’ve bought any additional pension like:
- additional pension contributions (APCs)
- shared cost additional pension contributions (SCAPCs), or
- additional regular contributions (ARCs),
you’ll be credited with what you’ve already bought to the date you left. They’ll be reduced if you haven’t reached the end of your contract. This is because you were paying the entire cost yourself, so there’s no one to support the cost of early payment.
If you were buying added years, you’d get the service you’ve bought up to the date you left.
The Government has said the earliest age you can take your pension will increase to 57 from 6 April 2028.


