Retirement Age Parliamentary Debate 7 January 2016

On 7 January 2016 the retirement age for women born in the 1950s will be debated in Parliament in a initiative led by SNP MP Mhairi Black.

Due to changes bought in by both the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011, many women have suffered an increase to their state pension age not once, but twice, with women arguing that the second increase was only giving them a short amount of notice to be able to change their retirement plans.

Many women who are due to retire in the next few years are now struggling to come to terms with the increased retirement ages and how they are going to fund them. The point of the debate is that these women were not given enough notice of the changes and the implementation of these changes should be reconsidered in terms of the swiftness of state pension age equalisation.

There is no doubt in most people’s minds that pension ages need to be equalised but the second change of age for women born in the 50s to having to retire at age 66, was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

Although there is an online petition in place that has garnered tens of thousands of signatures after a group was set up to challenge the changes, the debate on 7th January is separate to this in that it was requested by Ms Black to the Backbench Business Committee which can agree on debates requested by MPs that is thinks are in the interest of the people.

We will be eagerly watching the debate and any outcome that results from it and will keep you notified of those on our website. Whether or not it will be possible to backtrack on the changes is a difficult question but perhaps there is the possibility of some transitional arrangements being put into place for those who are worst affected.

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Retirement Age – Born in 1962

retirement age - born in 1962What is my retirement age if I was born in 1962?

If you were born in 1962, whether you are a man or a woman, you are one of the first batch of people to have their retirement age (at least the age at which you can receive your state pension benefits) increased beyond the equalised retirement age of 65.

Pension ages increase quite quickly for those born in the 50s and 60s and for those born in 1962 your retirement age has been set at age 67. So anyone who was born in 1962 will be collecting their state pension in 2029.

This is not likely to change any further (apart from a slim possibility of a labour government decreasing it to age 66), so you should plan for this to be your retirement date.

If you were born earlier than 1962 then you need to use our retirement age calculator to work out your retirement age or date.

Retirement ages have been calculated based on the proviso that people will spend on average around one-third of their adult working lives in retirement and this is whey they have been increased in line with the rise in life expectancy.

If you are wondering how much state pension you can expect to receive then you can request a forecast from the government. Check out this page for further information on applying for a forecast. How much you get may depend on how many years you have paid National Insurance for as well as other factors.

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Retirement Age – Born in 1958

retirement age - born in 1958What is my retirement age if I was born in 1958?

Following an accelerated timetable for the equalisation and increase of retirement ages,  the age at which you can take your State pension has become a matter for confusion for a lot of people.

However, legislation has been set out to specify when people are able to retire (up to the age of 68). If you were born in 1958 (whether you are a man or a woman) then you will be able to claim your state pension benefits on your 66th birthday. In fact anyone born between 6 October 1954 and 5 April 1960 has a state pension age of 66.

Retirement in 2024

Therefore you will be able to retire in 2024.

If you were born before or after these dates then you will need to follow the links at the top of the page (and to the left) to check out when your retirement age will be. Or else you can type in your year of birth in the search bar and you should be able to find a specific page for your year of birth.

Reasons for Pension Age Increases

People are living much longer than they were in previous generations and this has put a strain on the affordability of funding a state pension age of 65 for everyone. But not only this, people are also much healthier and able (and often willing) to work for longer before retirement which means that the balance of funding the state pension and paying it out needs to shift slightly so that it is still affordable.

You will be notified that your state pension is due for payment approximately 3 months before your retirement date, but if you are not, or if you need further information about how much you will get, then check out this page.

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Retirement Age – Born in 1957

retirement age - born in 1957When Can I Retire if I was Born in 1957?

If you are a man or a woman who was born in 1957 then you may be wondering what is your retirement age. And by retirement age we mean what is the age at which you can draw your UK State pension?

There have been many changes to the state pension age in recent years, defining when is the earliest that you can collect your state pension benefits. So if you were born in 1957 then your state pension age is your 66th birthday. So you can retire in 2023.

Claiming Your State Pension

If you need more information on how to claim your state pension (it doesn’t just get paid to you automatically, although you should get notified about it beforehand), or else if you want to get a forecast of what you might receive in terms of state pension benefits then check out this page.

The amount of state pension you get depends to some extent on how much National Insurance you have paid and also whether you have been contracted out of the state pension scheme so it is worth checking what kind of money you can expect so that you can plan for your retirement.

If you were born earlier than 1954 then you need to check out our pages that work out your retirement age here, as your state pension age may be different if you are a man or a woman, but for those born in 1957 it doesn’t matter if you are male or female, your retirement age has been equalised at this point at your 66th birthday.

Obviously in terms of personal pensions and company pensions you do not need to wait until your 66th birthday as access to those benefits will depend on the retirement age of any company scheme and the minimum early retirement age for personal pensions (currently age 55).

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Retirement Age – Born 1956

retirement age - born in 1956What is my retirement age if I was born in 1956?

Well whether you are a man or a woman the answer is the same – you can start claiming your state pension benefits on your 66th birthday. This means that you can retire in 2022.

If you were born before or after 1956 then the answer may be different as there are transitional periods where retirement ages change from 65 to 67, but for anyone born during any part of the year of 1956 you will retire (if you want to) on your 66th birthday.

Of course you have the option to delay taking your state pension benefits until later if that is what you choose to do, and in terms of other pensions, for example personal and company pensions, then they will have their own retirement dates, although a lot of schemes are linked to your state pension age so it may well be the same.

At the moment the earliest you can take your personal pension benefits is age 55 so you could always take those benefits earlier than your State pension age. But in terms of the state pension, there is no option to have it paid any earlier than your retirement age of 66.

You can get a forecast of the amount of state pension that might get by applying to the government for a statement. You can find further information on that here.

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Retirement Age – Born in 1955

retirement age - born in 1955What is my retirement age if I was born in 1955?

If this is the year that you were born then you may be wondering at what age you can claim your state pension benefits. Changes to retirement ages have been equalised and increased for people born in the 50s and you are caught up in those changes.

The simple answer is that, even though when you were growing up you could expect to get your state pension at age 65 if you are a man or 60 if you are a woman, if you were born in 1955 then you can now claim your pension on your 66th birthday. This applies to both men and women who were born in 1955. Therefore you can retire in 2021.

 

How Much Will I Get?

There have also been changes to the amount of State pension that you will get and if you are unsure of how much that will be then check out our guide to how to check how much you will get and how to find out.

If you were born in a different year to 1955 then you can use the search feature on this website to search for your year of birth which should give you the information that you need about your retirement age. Otherwise you can check your retirement age by following our questionnaire.

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Do I Automatically Get My State Pension?

If you are nearing your retirement age and wondering if you automatically get your state pension then the simple answer is no.

Everyone needs to actually claim their state pension and to enable you to do that you will normally be sent a claim form about 4 months before your state pension age. In advance of this you may want to get a forecast of what your state pension may be and you can get this at any time before you retire. If you want to get a forecast of your pension then you can get the relevant form for this on the Government website here.

If you haven’t received a form to claim your state pension and there are only 3 months or less until your state pension is due then you an call the helpline on the freephone number 0800 731 7898. You can also apply for your state pension online here.

So it is a good idea to get organised in advance to make sure that everything is in place for the payment of your state pension when you reach your retirement age. Obviously if you claim your state pension late then payments will be backdated to when they were due to start from so you will not miss out by claiming your state pension too late.

You can also defer your state pension (elect to receive it at a later date) if you do not wish to start claiming it at your state pension age. If you do this then the pension payments will be increased at a level corresponding to how long you have delayed it for.

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Retirement Age – Born in 1959

retirement age - born in 1959When Can I Retire if I was Born in 1959?

The age at which you can take your state pension changes quite quickly for quite a few people, in particular women, for a period of time until it gets to a state pension age of 67 for both women and men.

But for those who were born in 1959 the retirement age (at least the age at which you can draw your state pension benefits) has been fixed at age 66 for both men and women.  So you can retire in 2025. In fact anyone who was born on or after 6th October 1954 has a retirement age of 66. So if you were planning to retire at age 65 (or perhaps in the dim and distant past women had ideas of retiring at age 60) then you will need to rethink.

Pension Age Increases

The reason for the increase in retirement ages beyond 65 has been put down to the fact that life expectancy is increasing and it is only fair and equitable that people spend the same proportion of their working lives in retirement. This means that future generations (who are the ones that actually pay for pensions in payment) will not be unduly penalised by having to pay more for the pensioner population.

 

You can check out how much State pension you might get by checking out our guide.  You also still have time to increase your pension by making payments to a personal or occupational pension if you are able to do that.

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Retirement Age for Women Born in 1965

State Pension Ages have undergone a lot of changes in recent years and that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future as we live longer and so the payment of state pensions for a longer period becomes unsustainable. Also as more people are working longer (and are willing and able to do so) this means many are deferring their retirement until later.

State pensions are funded on a pay as you go basis – in that the current working population pays for the pensions of the current pensioners. So in order to keep the balance of those working being able to fund those who are retired, pension age naturally needs to in crease as the number of retired people increases.

So, for women who were born in 1965, they are part of the new generation of retirees who will not be able to claim their state pension benefits until they are 67. And in fact there is the possibility that this may be even higher by the time they retire. There is constant monitoring of state pension ages, life expectancy and numbers of people in the workforce to ensure that the state pension is at a sustainable level for the nation.

If you were born in 1965, whether you are a woman or a man then currently you can claim your state pension at age 67. As the minimum age for claiming a personal pension is likely to be 10 years earlier than your state pension age then it is possible that this will increase from the current age of 55 to 57 by that time.

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Pension Age for Women Born in 1953

retirement age - born in 1953When Can I Retire if I was Born in 1953?

If you are a woman who was born in 1953 then as you may know you are caught in quite a complicated area to work out your retirement age, or at least the age that you can expect to start claiming your state pension benefits.

The retirement age increases dramatically for those who were born in 1953 insomuch that those born in early 1953 have a retirement age of over 62 whereas those born in late 1953 have a retirement age of 65 – the point at which retirement ages are equalised for men and women. This is a massive and quick change and a lot of women are not happy about this.

Below we have tried to make it easy to understand what the State Pension Age is for a woman born in 1953:

Born (1953) State Pension Age
1 January to 5 January  6 September 2015
6 January to 5 February 6 November 2015
6 February to 5 March 6 January 2016
6 March to 5 April 6 March 2016
6 April to 5 May 6 July 2016
6 May to 5 June 6 November 2016
6 June to 5 July 6 March 2017
6 July to 5 August 6 July 2017
6 August to 5 September 6 November 2017
6 September to 5 October 6 March 2018
6 October to 5 November 6 July 2018
6 November to 5 December 6 November 2018
6 December to 31 December 6 March 2019

So as you can see it really depends in the exact date in 1953 that you were born – so someone who is maybe only a month or two different in age will have a wildly different retirement date if they were born in 1953.

Although retirement ages are equalised between men and women at 65 on 6th November 2018, the transition to a retirement age of 66 is accelerated quite quickly from this point and only a few women will actually have a retirement age of 65. It then jumps up to a retirement age of 65 and 3 months on its way to equalising all retirement ages at 66.

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