The Local Government Pension Scheme normal pension age is your State Pension age, never below 65, for pension built from April 2014. Older service usually keeps 65.

Your LGPS pension can usually start from 55, but only from normal pension age is it paid in full. Pension Wise does not cover career average pensions such as the LGPS, so the free routes for your own dates are your fund, your employer's pensions team and MoneyHelper. The date you have in mind for your LGPS can be held up against your other income by an FCA-authorised adviser during a free phone call; to have one ring, send the form on this page. England and Wales are covered unless a heading says otherwise.

Local government pension scheme normal pension age: two ages in one pension

For pension built from April 2014, the LGPS member website puts it this way: "your Normal Pension Age is linked to your State Pension age, but is at least age 65." The 2013 Regulations define it through the Pensions Act 1995 pensionable age, "or if higher, age 65". In practice that means 65, or your State Pension age if that is later.

Service before that date is treated separately. The member website says the Normal Pension Age for benefits built up before 1 April 2014 "is protected", and that for most people it is 65. Someone who joined in the 1990s and is still working therefore has two normal pension ages if their State Pension age is above 65: usually 65 for the old pension and their State Pension age for the new one.

You cannot split them to suit yourself: the two parts cannot be taken separately, so when you draw the pension, "you must take your whole LGPS pension at the same time". Retiring between the two ages is where this bites. The 2014 transitional regulations say the older pension is reduced only if it would have been under the pre-2014 rules, "irrespective of whether retirement pension under the 2014 Scheme payable at the same time is subject to actuarial adjustment". So a member who leaves at 65 with a State Pension age of 67 would normally have the pre-2014 part paid in full and only the later part reduced for early payment, unless the employer waives the cut.

What is my normal pension age if I was born in the 1960s or 1970s?

Because the age follows your State Pension age, the GOV.UK timetable sets the answer. People born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961 "will reach their State Pension age at 66 years and the specified number of months". For those born from 6 March 1961 to 5 April 1977 it is 67. GOV.UK says it will then increase "from 67 to 68 between 2044 and 2046" under the Pensions Act 2007, but that timetable "could change as a result of a future review", and Parliament would need to approve any change.

To find your own date, use GOV.UK's State Pension age checker; the benefit itself is explained at the UK State Pension. Your fund can confirm the age it holds for each part of your pension.

Can I retire at 60 from the local government pension scheme?

You can, but unless you are protected the pension will normally be reduced. The member website says that "if you choose to take your pension before your Normal Pension Age, it will normally be reduced because it is being paid earlier", and the earlier you go, the bigger the reduction. An employer has discretion to waive some or all of the cut, so ask what yours does. The current reduction table is on LGPS early retirement reductions.

Age 60 matters for one group. Members from the period 1 April 1998 to 30 September 2006 may be protected by a rule under which "some or all of your benefits could be paid in full before age 65". Retire after 60 and it applies; leave between 55 and 60 and it is not automatic, though an employer may choose to grant it. The 85-year rule has its own page.

Two other routes pay without the usual reduction. Redundancy or business efficiency, from 55 with two years' membership, means your main benefits are paid immediately and not reduced, though extra pension bought with Additional Pension Contributions (including shared cost ones) or Additional Regular Contributions is reduced (see LGPS redundancy rules). Ill health retirement is separate again: LGPS ill health retirement. Where your membership straddles 2014, an FCA-authorised adviser could set out each route against your statement on a no-cost call; start it from the form on this page.

Can I take my local government pension at 55?

Yes, if you have met the two-year qualifying period and have left your job: the member website sets out those three conditions for voluntary retirement. Flexible retirement is the other way in: from 55, after two years' membership, and "only if your employer agrees", reducing your hours or moving to a less senior post while drawing some or all of your pension. Any benefits built up before 1 April 2008 must be taken.

The 55 limit is rising. The member website says the earliest age rises from 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028, and that this does not apply to ill health retirements. For the wider rules on starting any pension at that age, see taking a pension at 55.

Taking a pension at 55 is not cashing it in as one lump. An LGPS pension is paid as income, with a tax-free lump sum available in exchange for some pension (the LGPS tax-free lump sum). Moving it to a personal pension is a different decision with its own checks, set out at transferring out of the LGPS.

What if I have already left, or I want to wait?

If you left on or after 1 April 1998, your deferred benefits are payable in full from your Normal Pension Age, and you can take them at any time from 55 to 75 without your former employer's consent, reduced if early. If you left before 1 April 1998 the member website says your Normal Pension Age is 60 if you are considering taking deferred benefits now, though in the past it was between 60 and 65 for those members.

Waiting is allowed too. Take your pension after Normal Pension Age and it "will be increased", based on the number of days from that age to the day you take it. You must take it by 75. The website adds that you can delay beyond Normal Pension Age "only if you left the Scheme after 31 March 1998". A member who is still working simply carries on building pension. GOV.UK confirms that a "default retirement age" of 65 "no longer exists", so there is no forced retirement date. What leaving your job does to your pension is on what happens if you leave.

Do Scotland and Northern Ireland use the same age?

The principle is the same, with different dates. In Scotland the member website gives April 2015 rather than April 2014 as the dividing line: later benefits follow State Pension age with a floor of 65, earlier benefits keep a protected age, and the 85-year rule covers membership at any time from 1 April 1998 to 30 November 2006, not 30 September. Northern Ireland's NILGOSC says normal pension age for 2015 Scheme benefits is the State Pension age or 65, whichever is later, while retirement age for benefits built up before 1 April 2015 "will still be 65". It also says you cannot draw the earlier benefits before the 2015 benefits, so retiring at 65 when your 2015 age is 66 reduces the later part. England and Wales members should not read those 2015 dates as theirs.

Quick answers on LGPS ages and dates

What does NPA mean on my LGPS statement?

It stands for Normal Pension Age, the age from which your benefits are paid in full. The protected age for pre-2014 service is the one described above.

Does my normal pension age rise if the State Pension age rises?

For benefits built up from April 2014 it is linked to State Pension age, so it follows any change that becomes law. For earlier benefits, the protected age stays as it is.

What is the latest age my LGPS pension can start?

75. Between 55 (57 from 6 April 2028) and 75 you pick the date, with a reduction before normal pension age and an increase after it. The exception is a member who left before 1 April 1998, whose pension must start at normal pension age if it is not already being paid.

Is 60 or 65 my retirement age if I joined in the 1990s?

For benefits built up before April 2014 it is usually 65. Members who left before 1 April 1998 are the group the website gives 60 for.

Can I draw it while still in my job?

Only through flexible retirement, which needs your employer's agreement. Ordinary voluntary retirement requires you to have left your job.

Checking your dates before you decide

The quickest accurate answer is your fund's: ask for a retirement estimate at the date you have in mind. MoneyHelper and the LGPS member website are free as well. Still unsure of your LGPS dates? An FCA-authorised adviser rings free of charge when you fill in our quick form on this page.

Related reading: how the LGPS works, how an LGPS pension is calculated, whether the LGPS is any good and the McCloud underpin.

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