Normal Retirement Age (NRA) is when you can take your defined benefit pension without any reduction for early payment.
You can check your NRA and see how much you might get at that age by logging in to your online account at www.hartlinkonline.co.uk/AXA-employeebenefits.
For full details of your retirement options and help with planning your retirement, read our pre-retirement guide.
It is possible for you to start taking your benefits from the Minimum Pension Age. This is set by the Government and is currently age 55 but will increase to age 57 from 6 April 2028. Some members may be able to take their benefits earlier than this, for example if they qualify for ill-health retirement or have a protected pension age.
If you access your benefits before your NRA, your pension will be reduced for early retirement because we expect to pay it for longer. If you start accessing your benefits after your NRA, your pension will be increased to allow for the fact it will be paid later and is expected to be in payment for less time.
If you want to work out how much your total retirement income might be, you will also need to look up any other pension schemes you have benefits in, as well as checking on your State Pension.
You can get a forecast of your State Pension at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
If you have lost contact with a previous employer’s pension scheme, the Pension Tracing Service might be able to help. You can use their online service at www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Pensions are important and you should consider taking independent financial advice, you can find information on how to choose an adviser and adviser details at www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/getting-help-and-advice
When planning your retirement, make sure you avoid being taken in by a pension scam. These scams take many forms and could be about insurance policies, pensions transfers, or high-return investment opportunities, including investments in cryptoassets. Please read our scams guide for more details. There are more tips and advice on avoiding scams on the FCA ScamSmart pages.