From 6 April 2028, the minimum age at which you can access a UK pension is rising from 55 to 57. This change — known as an increase to the Normal Minimum Pension Age — was introduced by the UK government to reflect longer life expectancies, and it applies to all registered UK pension schemes, including those that have been transferred to a QROPS in Ireland.
That last point is the one that catches people off guard. Many Irish residents who have already transferred their UK pension to an Irish QROPS — whether a PRB or a PRSA — assume that once the money is in Ireland, UK rules no longer apply.
But the minimum pension age is one of the rules that follows the fund. Both QROPS Buy-Out Bonds and QROPS PRSAs will be subject to the age 57 access rule from April 2028.
So what does this mean in practice?
If you are currently 55 or 56 and were planning to access your pension between now and April 2028, you still can — provided you do so before the deadline. If you turn 55 before 6 April 2028 but do not access any benefits before that date, you will need to wait until you are 57 before you can draw anything from your QROPS pension. That is a two-year gap that could significantly affect retirement income plans for some people.
The impact by date of birth broadly works like this: if you were born before 6 April 1971, you will already be 57 by the time the change kicks in, so you are not affected. If you were born between 6 April 1971 and 5 April 1973, you have a window between your 55th birthday and 5 April 2028 in which you can access your pension under the old rules — but only if you act before the deadline. If you were born after 5 April 1973, the minimum access age of 57 will simply apply to you as a matter of course.
There is a concept called a Protected Pension Age which allows some people to retain access at 55 even after 2028. This protection applies if your scheme had an unqualified right for members to access benefits before age 57 as of 11 February 2021, and you were a member before 4 November 2021.
However — and this is critical — this protection can be lost if you transfer your pension. Moving your UK pension to an Irish QROPS, or from one Irish arrangement to another, can strip away any protected pension age you might otherwise have had. This is another reason why the timing and structure of a QROPS transfer requires careful advice.
If any of this affects you — or you are simply unsure whether the 2028 change applies to your UK pension — now is a good time to review your position. The rules around timing and access can make a real difference to your retirement income, and acting early gives you the most options.