Drawing a pension while you work. Once you reach state pension age, you can begin to receive your state pension even though you carry on working. It will be counted as income and is taxable in the same way as your earnings (and any savings income you receive).efault pension age is no longer 65. Although most people retire when they reach state pension age, default retirement age in the UK was ended in 2011, so you no longer have to stop working at 65 if you don’t want to.