Due to additional administrative requirements, retirement requests for members under 55 can’t be processed via the Employer Portal. Instead, you’ll need to contact Employer.Support@railpen.comdirectly.

Certain members qualify to take their benefits under the age of 55. This is known as the member’s Protected Pension Age (PPA) and allows members to take benefits as early as age 50.

A member qualifies for these benefits if they were:

• An active member of any Section of the Railways Pension Scheme (RPS) on 5 April 2006
• An active member of the 1970 Section of the British Transport Police Superannuation Fund on 5 April 2006

Members who wish to take benefits under 55 need careful administration to avoid potential unauthorised tax charges.

That’s why we’re not able to process retirement cases where members are under 55 through the Employer Portal.

How to process retirement requests for members under 55

Instead, please email us at  Employer.Support@railpen.com with the member details including benefit start date. From there, we’ll contact the member to begin administering the request, and ensure they avoid any unauthorised tax charges.

We’re currently updating our communications to make sure members understand their Protected Pension Age and what this means for them. We’ll share further details in due course.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to the Client Relationship Management team.