Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: For employees of the Delaware State Employees’ Pension Plan, Delaware law allows retirement with 30 years of credited service at any age. Employees hired before January 1, 2012 can also retire at age 62 with 5 years or at age 60 with 15 years. Employees hired on or after that date need age 65 with 10 years or age 60 with 20 years. Vesting is 5 years for the earlier group and 10 years for the later group.
Hired before 2012
Title 29, section 5522 lists the ways to a service pension. For this group: “The employee has 30 years of credited service.” “The employee has 15 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(4), (5) and (12) of this title, and has attained age 60.” “The employee has 5 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(4), (5) and (12) of this title, and has attained age 62.”
Hired on or after January 1, 2012
The 30-year route applies to this group too. The other two routes are: “The employee has 20 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(12) of this title, and has attained age 60”, and “The employee has 10 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(12) of this title, and has attained age 65”.
Retiring early
For the earlier group the statute allows early retirement “if the employee has 15 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(4), (5) and (12) of this title, and has attained age 55”. It then reduces the pension: “the amount of the service pension payable to such an employee shall be reduced by 2 / 10 percent of each month the employee is under age 60.” For the later group: “The employee has 15 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(12) of this title, and has attained age 55”, with this reduction: “the amount of the service pension payable to such an employee shall be reduced by 4 / 10 percent of each month the employee is under age 60”. The statute also provides, for the later group, a route at any age for an employee with 25 years of credited service, exclusive of service credited under §5501(e)(12) of this title, with this reduction: “the amount of the service pension payable to such an employee shall be reduced by 4 / 10 percent of each month the employee has less than 30 years.”
Vesting
The Summary Plan Description lists vesting by hire date. Hired before 1/1/2012: “5 Consecutive Years of Service”. Hired on or after 1/1/2012: “10 Years of Service (5 years must be consecutive)”.
What the pension is based on
The Summary Plan Description defines the average this way: “Your FAE is 1/36 of the total compensation paid to you during the three (3) periods of twelve (12) consecutive months during which your compensation was the highest.” The statute’s formula for later service reads: “plus 1.85% of the employee’s final average compensation multiplied by the number of years, taken to the nearest twelfth of a year, in the employee’s period of credited service after December 31, 1996.”
A worked example with invented numbers
Take an invented post-2011 hire with 25 years of service, all after 1996, who retires at 57, 36 months before 60. The statute writes the monthly cut as 4 / 10 percent, which is 0.4% a month. That is 25 years at 1.85%, or 46.25% (computed) of a final average salary of $60,000 (invented, for the computation), which comes to $27,750 a year (computed). The reduction is 36 months under age 60 at 0.4% each, which is 14.4% (computed). The pension after the reduction is $23,754 a year (computed).
What the documents do not say
The Summary Plan Description prints its eligibility rules in a table, so the eligibility quotes come from the statute (29 Del. C. sections 5522 and 5527), and the Summary Plan Description supplies the vesting and final average earnings text. The early retirement rule for pre-2012 hires with 25 years at any age, and the 2.0% factor for service before 1997, are not quoted. The statute says 2 / 10 percent and 4 / 10 percent a month, and the Summary Plan Description says .2% and .4%; these are the same values. The statute page is a live view with no date, and the Summary Plan Description is the 2026 edition. The statute’s definition of a post-2011 employee was not archived; the January 1, 2012 date comes from the Summary Plan Description. Correctional officer, specified peace officer and 911 operator rules, disability and survivor pensions and other Delaware plans are not covered. No rule of 80, 85 or 90 appears in either document read.
Common mistakes
- Applying the age 62 with 5 years rule to a post-2011 hire. That group needs age 65 with 10 years.
- Forgetting the early retirement cut. The statute reduces the pension for every month under age 60 on the age-55 route, and for every month short of 30 years of service on the 25-year route.
- Counting every kind of service toward eligibility. The statute excludes service credited under certain subsections of section 5501(e).
Related: Delaware State Employees’ Pension retirement decisions, the Delaware State Employees’ Pension COLA for 2027, the Delaware early retirement reduction page, how public pension decisions work, and whether Delaware taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Delaware General Assembly (Delaware Code Online), 29 Del. C. Chapter 55, Subchapter II (State Employees’ Pension Plan): delcode.delaware.gov
- State of Delaware Office of Pensions, State Employees’ Pension Plan Summary Plan Description: open.omb.delaware.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.