Pension - Tax Free Lump Sum

[BikeBikeBIke]

In a couple of years I can legally take the TFLS out of my pensions. One a pension from a previous employment, one from my current employment which I and my employer will still be contributing to.

The 'old' pension is protected rights. Is it inherantly dumb to take a TFLS out of that?

If I take a TFLS from my 'current' pension, does that mean I and my employer can no longer contribute?

(Sorry, these are probably dumb questions and I could Google, but....)

[bitchstewie]

I don't know the TFLS answer but you may want to check if you can transfer in to the protected rights pension.

I have one and I was rather shocked when they confirmed I can transfer other pensions in and access the lot at 55.

[Jockman]

Yes you can still contribute but it really depends what you take. Just the tax free lump sum or a bit of income drawdown too? One will trigger the MPAA one won’t.

[bmwmike]

bhstewie said:

I don't know the TFLS answer but you may want to check if you can transfer in to the protected rights pension.

I have one and I was rather shocked when they confirmed I can transfer other pensions in and access the lot at 55.

That's interesting, I'll have to check one of mine but when I asked them about protected rights they didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about, but all the guff I signed up to says age 55.

I've got a small Irish pension I can take in 18 months at age 50, I'd prefer to have transferred that into a UK pension but no UK company will accept it.

[BikeBikeBIke]

bmwmike said:

bhstewie said:

I don't know the TFLS answer but you may want to check if you can transfer in to the protected rights pension.

I have one and I was rather shocked when they confirmed I can transfer other pensions in and access the lot at 55.

That's interesting, I'll have to check one of mine but when I asked them about protected rights they didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about, but all the guff I signed up to says age 55.

I've got a small Irish pension I can take in 18 months at age 50, I'd prefer to have transferred that into a UK pension but no UK company will accept it.

Yeah, my current pension won't accept the protected rights one. And I see no other point in moving it.

[bitchstewie]

My point was check if you can do it the other way.

i.e. transfer pensions you can't access until 57 into the protected rights one you can access at 55.

[732NM]

Protected rights doesn't exist anymore, it's just a pension pot like any other personal pension. You can access the funds from any personal pension at 55 currently.

[bitchstewie]

It may officially have a different name but whatever the name if you have two pensions taken out at the same time you may not be able to access one until you're 57 or in line with the national minimum pension age whilst you may have a "protected something" to access the other at 55.

https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/pension-basics/...

[732NM]

bhstewie said:

It may officially have a different name but whatever the name if you have two pensions taken out at the same time you may not be able to access one until you're 57 or in line with the national minimum pension age whilst you may have a "protected something" to access the other at 55.

https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/pension-basics/...

It's 55 for any pension, that changes in 4 years time, 2028 to 57.

[bitchstewie]

Sure, I took the "couple of years" comment in the OP to mean BikeBikeBike might be like me and it's 57 for him.

If it's 55 happy days ignore what I said

[732NM]

You are also confusing two types of naming.

Protected rights was a pension pot made up of SERPS contributions, which used to have a different legal status to other pension pots. That's no longer the case, it's just a pot of money with the same rules as other pension pots.

Protected age is when you can access the pot, this is based on when you entered a pension scheme and how the retirement age was defined in that scheme.

There is the possibility to take a pension at 50, if your scheme was setup long ago enough to have 50 defined in it.

55 is the current default, 57 in 4 years time.

[bitchstewie]

Thank you, I definitely meant protected age in that case

Thought it might help the OP.

I'll get my coat