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Last reviewed: 14 October 2026
I’m 52, and when the rise in the minimum pension age to 57 was confirmed, I wanted to know whether any of my pensions came with a protected pension age, the right to keep taking money at 55 after the change. So on 2nd October I sent Interactive Investor a secure message and asked. I’ve used ii for seven years (the full story is in my Interactive Investor Review 2026), and their reply arrived a week later.
The short version is that ii’s own SIPP rules don’t give me one, so anything I pay in now follows 57. Whether any of the money I transferred in from my three old workplace pensions is protected is still with their technical team, and given when I moved it, I’m not expecting good news.
Here’s exactly what I asked. Feel free to copy it, swap in your own provider’s name, and send it.
Hello,
Could you please tell me whether my SIPP has a protected pension age under the changes to the normal minimum pension age from 6 April 2028?
Specifically:
Did the scheme rules of my SIPP give me an unqualified right to take benefits from age 55 immediately before 4 November 2021?
If so, does that protected pension age apply to my whole SIPP, or only to certain parts of it, for example money transferred in from my previous pensions?
Will contributions I’ve made since then, and any I make in future, be accessible from 55 or from 57?
Thank you,
Angelina Ward
What this post contains
The short answer
A protected pension age lets some people keep taking money from their pension before 57 once the minimum age rises on 6 April 2028, usually from 55. It only applies if your scheme’s rules gave you that right before 4 November 2021, and it works scheme by scheme, so one of your pensions can have it while another doesn’t.
What is a protected pension age? The 2028 rules in plain Englishย
Under current rules, the earliest you can normally take money from a private pension is 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028, according to HMRC’s Pensions Tax Manual. That earliest age has a formal name, the normal minimum pension age.
A protected age is the exception, an earlier age that stays yours after the rise. You’ll sometimes see it called a protected retirement age, which is the same thing under another name.
HMRC sets out the conditions, and all of them have to be met. In plain English, they boil down to three things.
You had an unqualified right. You could take your money before 57 without anyone’s permission. If your trustees or employer had to agree first, it doesn’t count, even if they always said yes.
You had that right immediately before 4 November 2021. That’s the snapshot date, so what your scheme allowed then is what matters, not what it allows now.
The scheme rules already included it on 11 February 2021. That’s the day the government published its consultation on the change, so a right added to the rules after that date doesn’t qualify.
Your protected age is whatever age you had that right at, just before 4 November 2021. For most people that’s 55, though it can be 56. There’s nothing to apply for either. HMRC says you don’t need to register it, it applies automatically if you meet the conditions, and your scheme administrator can confirm it.
Protected pension age 55: who’s likely to have it?ย
There’s no list of who has it, because it comes down to the exact wording in each pension’s rules. Some older workplace and personal pensions wrote a specific age, such as 55, into their rules, and those are the ones that might protect you.
Many SIPPs and newer personal pensions don’t name an age at all. Their rules simply say you can take your money from “normal minimum pension age”, meaning whatever the law says at the time, so when the law moves to 57, your pension moves with it. The government said as much in its July 2021 consultation response: rules that refer to the normal minimum pension age don’t give an unqualified right to a protected age.
Interactive Investor’s own guide to the normal minimum pension age says “protected pension ages aren’t common” and that they’re “likely to be the exception rather than the rule.”
My own SIPP is a case in point. ii told me “Our scheme rules did not give the unqualified right”, and that they don’t offer protection on the ii SIPP. I wasn’t surprised, but I’m glad I asked rather than guessed.
Don’t assume the answer either way, though. An old workplace scheme from your twenties could be the one that named 55.
Protected pension age 50: the older protection people confuse it with
There’s a second, older type of protection, and it’s behind a lot of the confusion online. Between 6 April 2006 and 5 April 2010, the minimum pension age was 50. It rose to 55 on 6 April 2010, and HMRC calls the older safeguard “2010 protection”. It came in two forms.
Older workplace and public service schemes. If you were in one of these on 5 April 2006 with an unqualified right to take benefits before 55, and the scheme rules allowed it on 10 December 2003, you may have a protected age below 55, according to HMRC’s guidance on occupational schemes.
Personal pensions for certain careers. If you held a personal pension or retirement annuity contract with a right to take benefits before 50 on 5 April 2006, you may be protected, but only if you worked in a prescribed occupation. The list includes footballers, jockeys, tennis players, dancers, models and trapeze artists, careers where your body usually decides when you stop.
This older protection comes with strings. You generally have to take all your benefits from that scheme on the same date, and HMRC says it can be lost if you carry on working, or go back to work, in certain circumstances after taking your benefits.
The biggest difference is what happens on a transfer. Under the older rules, you lose the protection if you move your pension on your own, and it usually survives only a block transfer. That’s why some sites say any transfer wipes out your protection. For the older protection that’s broadly true, but for the 2028 protection it isn’t.
In a sentence, the older protection dates from 2006 and is usually lost when you transfer on your own, while the 2028 protection dates from 4 November 2021 and can come with you.
| 2010 protection (the older one) | 2028 protection | |
| Snapshot date | 5 April 2006 | Immediately before 4 November 2021 |
| Rules had to allow it on | 10 December 2003 (workplace schemes) | 11 February 2021 |
| Protected age | Below 55 (workplace schemes) or below 50 (personal pensions, certain careers) | Usually 55, sometimes 56 |
| Transferring on your own | Protection usually lost | Kept on the transferred money only |
| Block transfer | Can keep it | Can keep it |
How do I know if I have a protected pension age?ย
These are the steps I’d take, in order.
- List every pension you hold. When I gathered my old pots together at 45, I’d forgotten one employer entirely, so it’s worth going through your CV job by job.
- Ask each provider this exact question. “Does this pension have a protected pension age under the 2028 rules, and if so, which part of my pot does it apply to?” Or copy the longer version I sent ii, at the top of this post.
- Ask about any money you transferred in, separately. Protection can sit on one slice of a pot and not the rest.
- Keep the answers in writing, with dates. A secure message or email beats a phone call, because you’ll want that answer in front of you in 2028.
My reply from ii took exactly a week, and it told me three useful things. Their scheme rules didn’t give the unqualified right. Any contributions I make to the ii SIPP won’t be protected. And their technical team is checking whether I have any protected age 55 money and, if so, the split percentage.
That last part surprised me. Protection isn’t always all or nothing, so if some of my transferred money is protected, ii will tell me what share of my pot it covers. They also pointed out that “If you contribute/transfer in/out etc the percentages will change accordingly.” Every pound I pay in from now on follows 57, so any protected slice shrinks as a share of the whole over time.
ii suggested speaking to an independent financial adviser too, and I’ve written about when paying for SIPP advice earns its keep.
What happens to a protected pension age if you transfer?ย
Under the 2028 rules, HMRC says protection is lost on a transfer unless it’s one of two types.
A block transfer. You and at least one other member of the same scheme move together, in a single transaction, taking all your rights under it. It’s usually a group move rather than something you’d arrange alone, and the new scheme takes on your protection.
An individual transfer. You move a whole arrangement on your own and keep your protected age of 55 or 56, but only on the money you transferred. It’s ring fenced, kept separate, and anything already in the new pension or paid in later follows 57. Because the whole arrangement has to move, check very carefully before transferring only part of a pot.
ii’s reply to me is that rule in real life. They don’t offer protection on their own SIPP, but if you transfer in funds that have it, they accept them, and “the protection will only apply to the transferred in funds.” New contributions don’t get it. That’s why ii talks in percentages, because protected and unprotected money can sit side by side in the same SIPP.
So before you move an old pension, ask two things. Does it have a protected age, and will the new provider accept and ring fence it? I’ve covered the wider pros and cons of consolidating your pensions, including which pensions you should never move without advice.
If anyone contacts you out of the blue offering to “lock in” your access age or unlock your pension early, walk away. Taking money out before the rules allow counts as an unauthorised payment and can be taxed at up to 55%, as I explain in is my pension safe.
What a protected pension age doesn’t changeย
It doesn’t touch your State Pension. Your State Pension age is set separately by the government, and a protected age on a private pension makes no difference to it.
It doesn’t make taking money at 55 a good idea. Tax, the money purchase annual allowance and lost growth all still apply, and I’ve worked through the figures in how much will I lose if I take my pension at 55.
It doesn’t force your scheme to pay out. HMRC notes a protected age doesn’t oblige the scheme to pay benefits from that age, so check what yours actually offers.
It doesn’t cover the transitional rules. If you’ll be 55 or 56 on 6 April 2028 without protection, different rules apply, which I’ve explained in can I take my pension at 55. HMRC’s consultation on those rules closed on 28 September 2026, and at the time of writing the outcome hasn’t been published.
For what it’s worth, I wasn’t upset to find my SIPP follows 57. I used to raid every account I could reach, so two extra years of growth and a little protection from my own impulses feels like a fair trade.
FAQย
What is a protected pension age?
It’s an earlier age at which you can take money from a particular pension after the minimum age rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028. You qualify only if your scheme’s rules gave you an unqualified right to take benefits before 57 immediately before 4 November 2021, and included it on 11 February 2021. It works scheme by scheme, and there’s nothing to register with HMRC.
Do I have a protected pension age, and how do I know if my pension is protected?
The only reliable way to know is to ask each provider. Ask whether the pension is protected under the 2028 rules and which part of your pot that covers, and ask separately about any money you transferred in. Get the answer in writing. My reply from Interactive Investor took a week, and their technical team is still checking my transferred money.
Can I keep a protected pension age of 55 if I transfer?
Under the 2028 rules, yes, in two situations. A block transfer, where you move with at least one other member of the same scheme in one transaction, carries your protection across. An individual transfer of a whole arrangement keeps it on the transferred money only, ring fenced, while anything else in the new pension follows 57. The older pre 2006 protection is usually lost unless it’s a block transfer.
What is a protected pension age of 50?
It’s the older form of protection, which HMRC calls 2010 protection, from when the minimum pension age was 50. Some members of older workplace and public service schemes kept a right to take benefits below 55.
Does a SIPP have a protected pension age?
Most don’t, because many SIPPs refer to the normal minimum pension age rather than naming 55, so access moves to 57 with the law. My own ii SIPP doesn’t offer protection, but a SIPP can still hold protected money transferred in from an older pension, ring fenced, if the provider accepts it. ii told me it does, and that new contributions follow 57.
Is protected retirement age the same thing?
Yes. Protected retirement age is simply another name for the same protection, and you’ll see both terms on provider websites. Either way, it means an earlier age at which you can take money from a specific pension, kept under the 2028 rules or the older pre 2006 rules. When you ask your provider, HMRC’s wording, protected pension age, should get you the clearest answer.
Checking takes one message per pension and about a week of waiting. I’ll update this post when ii’s technical team comes back to me.