The short answer
There is no compulsory retirement age in the UK. You can stop work whenever you can afford to, and an employer cannot normally force you out on age grounds. What people mean by “when can I retire” is usually one of two dates: the day the State Pension can start, and the day you can first touch a workplace or personal pension.
For someone born in 1958, the State Pension age is 66 and the earliest private pension access age is 55. The two dates are set by completely different rules, and the gap between them is the part of retirement you have to fund yourself.
You have already reached State Pension age
Anyone born in 1958 was born before 6 April 1960, which puts you in the last group to get the State Pension at a flat 66. You reached that age in 2024, so you can claim now if you have not already done so.
If you never got round to claiming, two things are worth knowing. You can backdate a claim by up to 12 months, so a year of missed payments is recoverable. And if you have deliberately not claimed, you have been deferring, which adds about 1% for every nine weeks, or roughly 5.8% for a full year, to your eventual weekly amount for life.
Month-by-month State Pension dates for 1958 births
The table below gives the State Pension age and the month your State Pension can start for each birth month in 1958. It assumes a birth date in the middle of the month. Because the legislated bands run from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next, anyone born in the first five days of a month should check the exact date on GOV.UK.
| Born | State Pension age | State Pension starts |
|---|---|---|
| January 1958 | 66 | January 2024 |
| February 1958 | 66 | February 2024 |
| March 1958 | 66 | March 2024 |
| April 1958 | 66 | April 2024 |
| May 1958 | 66 | May 2024 |
| June 1958 | 66 | June 2024 |
| July 1958 | 66 | July 2024 |
| August 1958 | 66 | August 2024 |
| September 1958 | 66 | September 2024 |
| October 1958 | 66 | October 2024 |
| November 1958 | 66 | November 2024 |
| December 1958 | 66 | December 2024 |
Want the exact day rather than the month? Our State Pension age calculator works it out from your date of birth, and the full State Pension age timetable explains the legislation behind the bands.
When can you take a private pension?
State Pension age has nothing to do with your workplace or personal pensions. Those are governed by the normal minimum pension age, which is 55 today and rises to 57 on 6 April 2028 under the Finance Act 2022.
You passed 55 in 2013, so you can already take money from a workplace or personal pension if you want to. The normal minimum pension age rises to 57 on 6 April 2028, but that change does not claw back access from anyone who already has it.
Now that you are past State Pension age the bridging problem is behind you. What matters instead is making the State Pension, any private pensions and any benefits work together tax-efficiently - see how the State Pension is taxed.
Our drawdown calculator shows how long a pot lasts at different withdrawal rates, and the safe withdrawal rate guide explains why UK research now lands below the old 4% rule.
What to do now
- Claim if you have not. The State Pension is never paid automatically. If no payments are arriving, claim through GOV.UK and ask for the maximum 12 months of backdating.
- Check you are getting the right amount. DWP has corrected tens of thousands of historic underpayments, particularly for married women, widows and people over 80. If your weekly figure looks low against your National Insurance record, ask for a written breakdown.
- Check Pension Credit. Around two in five eligible households never claim it. See our Pension Credit guide and, if you have savings, how savings affect Pension Credit.
- Check the rest of the list. Attendance Allowance, Council Tax Reduction and the free TV licence at 75 are all commonly missed - see benefits and entitlements.
How much will you actually get?
Reaching State Pension age is only half the question. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, which is £12,547.60 a year, but you only get the full amount with 35 qualifying years of National Insurance. Fewer than 35 years gives you a proportional slice, and fewer than 10 years gives you nothing at all.
Being contracted out of the additional State Pension before April 2016 can also leave your forecast below the headline figure. Our guide to how much State Pension you will get works through the table by qualifying years, the contracting-out deduction and how to read your forecast.
Frequently asked questions
- I was born in 1958 - when can I retire?
- There is no fixed retirement age in the UK, so you can stop work whenever you can afford to. What most people mean is State Pension age. If you were born in 1958 your State Pension age is 66, which you reach in 2024. You can take a workplace or personal pension earlier, from age 55.
- What is my State Pension age if I was born in 1958?
- Your State Pension age was 66 and you reached it in 2024, so you can claim now if you have not already. The month-by-month table on this page gives the exact month your State Pension starts for every birth month in 1958.
- Can I take my private pension before State Pension age if I was born in 1958?
- Yes. The normal minimum pension age is separate from State Pension age. You passed 55 in 2013, so you can already take money from a workplace or personal pension if you want to. The normal minimum pension age rises to 57 on 6 April 2028, but that change does not claw back access from anyone who already has it. The first 25%% is normally tax-free, up to the £268,275 Lump Sum Allowance.
- How much State Pension will I get?
- The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27, which is £12,547.60 a year. You need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance for the full amount and at least 10 years to get anything at all. Your own figure depends on your NI record, and can be lower if you were contracted out before April 2016. Check your personal forecast on GOV.UK.
- Can my State Pension age change now I have reached it?
- Once you have reached State Pension age your entitlement is fixed. Reviews change the age that future cohorts reach, not the position of people already past it. The amount can still change each April under the triple lock.
- Do men and women born in 1958 have the same State Pension age?
- Yes. State Pension ages were equalised at 65 in November 2018 and have risen together since. Since then State Pension age has depended only on your date of birth, not your sex. Women born in the 1950s were affected by the earlier equalisation timetable, which is the subject of the WASPI campaign, but that does not affect anyone born in 1958.
- Does my State Pension start automatically?
- No. You have to claim it. The Department for Work and Pensions writes to you about four months before you reach State Pension age inviting you to claim online, by phone or by post. If you do nothing, you are treated as deferring, which adds about 5.8% a year to the eventual amount. You can also backdate a claim by up to 12 months.
Other birth years
Born in 1959. Or start from the State Pension age timetable, which covers every birth year from 1950 to 1978 and the reviews that could change the dates.