HMRC has launched a technical consultation on draft regulations designed to protect certain pension payments from becoming unauthorised when the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) rises from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028.

The consultation, which closes on 28 September 2026, seeks views on amendments to the Taxation of Pension Schemes (Transitional Provisions) Order 2006.

The government said the changes are intended to address cases where members aged 55 or 56 immediately before the NMPA increase have already become entitled to pension benefits, or taken steps to access them, but payments are not actually made until after the higher NMPA takes effect.

Without transitional provisions, those payments could fail to meet the relevant NMPA conditions and become unauthorised for tax purposes, even if the member had satisfied the rules in force before 6 April 2028.

Under the draft regulations, members who were aged 55 or 56 on 5 April 2028 would, in specified circumstances, be treated as having reached age 57 immediately before the relevant payment is made.

The protections would apply where a member had already taken steps to access pension income before the change, including where assets had been designated for drawdown by 5 April 2028 but the first income withdrawal or annuity payment was not made until after 6 April.

They would also cover cases where a member had become entitled to a scheme pension or lifetime annuity by 5 April 2028, but the first payment was made after the NMPA increase.

The draft regulations would provide similar protections for a number of lump sums, including stand-alone lump sums, pension commencement lump sums, pension commencement excess lump sums and trivial commutation lump sums.

In each case, the member would need to have been aged 55 or 56 and to have become entitled to the relevant lump sum by 5 April 2028, without having received payment by then.

HMRC said the changes would ensure that these payments could continue to qualify as authorised payments and would not become liable for an unauthorised payments charge solely because they were made after the NMPA increased.

The proposals would also preserve access to subsequent trivial commutation lump sums for eligible members.

Where a member aged 55 or 56 had become entitled to a trivial commutation lump sum before 6 April 2028, the regulations would allow further qualifying trivial commutation payments after that date by deeming the member to have reached the new NMPA before payment.

The explanatory note accompanying the draft order stated that this was intended to preserve the existing time window during which members can take further authorised trivial commutation lump sum payments.

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