Subject to the Act, pre-retirement allowance is payable for a period of retirement to a person who: has attained the age specified by regulations but not pensionable age; whose weekly means, subject to subsection (4), do not exceed the allowance payable if the person had no means; and who meets one of the conditions in subsection (1)(c): (i) at least 390 days’ receipt of jobseeker’s benefit or allowance in a continuous period in the immediately preceding period (as read with s141(3)); (ii) as a separated spouse, no remunerative employment or self‑employment in the prescribed preceding period; (iia) as a civil partner not living with the other partner, the same employment restriction; or (iii) immediately before the claim week, ceased to be entitled to one‑parent family payment or carer’s allowance for the reasons specified in ss172(1) and 179(1).

Subsection (2) treats dissolved marriages and civil partnerships recognised in the State as continuing separation for entitlement and discontinues payment on marriage, new civil partnership or cohabitation. Weekly means equal yearly means divided by 52 with specified rounding; where the claimant’s partner is a Part 6 recipient or falls within specified categories the claimant’s means may be taken as one‑half, with transitional rules in ss4A–4C governing applicable calculation. Two retirement periods within 52 weeks are treated as continuous; ss7–9 allow prescription to end entitlement for periods beginning on or after a prescribed date, with exceptions for continuous periods begun earlier and specified carer recipients.