Redundancy and access to pension

[Broomsticklady]

I'm confused!!

Looking redundancy in the face and trying to work out if I can access my company pension straight away or if I have to wait til I'm 55.

Until April this would have been clear cut - the scheme rules say > 50 - take your pension. Now with the new legislation, is 55 the marker? Or can the scheme I'm in say 'we say 50, so for our members it's 50'. It's even confused on the intranet - first off says 55, then goes on to say 50!!

Help - can a scheme override legislation?

[The Leaper]

No, it's 55 minimum age now (since 6 April 2010).

R

[JohnP68]

it is possible to retire before 55 in limited circumstances, eg from http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/min-pen-age....


However, to qualify for a protected pension age, the right to a pension before age 55 must be 'unqualified' (in that no other party need to consent to the individual’s request before it becomes binding upon the scheme or contract holder), and the provision to pay benefits before age 55 must have been set out in the documentation of the pension scheme on 10 December 2003. This is the date of the consultation document that first introduced the concept of a protected pension age.