Retirement Age – Born 1956

Last updated on July 25th, 2017

What 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.