Our calculator will show you the maximum you could take from your pension fund as a tax free lump sum and any further lump sum you could take, based on the answers you gave to our questions. In the vast majority of cases, the maximum tax free amount will be equal to 25% of the value of your pension fund. However the new Pension Freedom rules will allow you to take as much or as little out of your pension fund as you want. It is important to remember that anything you take over your 25% tax free entitlement will be liable to income tax.

It is also the case that you must be 55 before you can take any benefit from a pension plan. Don't be mislead by websites claiming to help anybody of any age take a pension lump sum from their fund. These websites and their services ARE NOT regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You could also find yourself liable to an unexpected 'unauthorised payment' tax bill from HMRC and find that most of your fund disappears in fees and taxes.

We are more than willing to give you all the information you need, without obligation, just call us on 020 33 55 4827.

Below we discuss the ways a lump sum can be taken from your pension.

Our calculator will give you the costs and charges associated with the type of business you are interested in.

For customers who qualify to transfer directly to flexible drawdown, then we are happy to guarantee the fees (as long as the information you have entered about your pension fund is accurate). For some customers, we may need to estimate the costs. This is typically for customers using a guaranteed product. Your quote will make it clear whether the costs are guaranteed or an estimate.

If you have a Final Salary pension you may need to use the services of a Pension Transfer Specialist. In such cases we will quote the specialist adviser fees.

Pre-Commencement Lump Sum - Tax Free Cash

All pension contracts allow for a certain amount of the fund to be taken as a lump sum which is also paid to you free of any tax liability. In the vast majority of cases the amount of tax free cash you can take is 25% of the value of the pension fund. For Final Salary pensions the Tax Free Lump Sum is based on your years of service.

Many of our customers come to us to help them release the tax free cash only and keep the rest of their fund invested until retirement. If they use their existing pension provider, they may also be forced to start taking their pension in the form of an annuity before they retire. This will not only reduce their income in retirement but they will be paying tax on it at their highest rate.

Even if you qualify to take 100% of your pension fund as a lump sum, only 25% of it will be free of tax. The remaining 75% will be subject to income tax at your highest rate. In some cases it will be possible to take a series of lump sums over a number of years. This can help people on high incomes take large amounts out of their pension whilst keeping their income below higher or high rate tax thresholds.

You may be able to take all of your fund as a tax free lump sum on grounds of serious ill health. This is discussed below.

Visit our web page that looks at taking a tax free lump sum and leaving the rest until later.

Flexible Drawdown (2011) and Flexi-Access Drawdown (2015)

Although income drawdown has been around for some while, in 2011 the government introduced the concept of flexible drawdown which will allow some customers to take as much as they want from their pension fund. They could even take it all as a lump sum if they wish.

To qualify for flexible drawdown the customer needed to have a certain guaranteed level of retirement income before they could have full flexibility and control over their pension fund. This was known as the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR).

Flexible Drawdown was in effect abolished in 2015, when the Government introduced new rules which have become known as 'Pension Freedoms'. These new rules allow anybody with a pension, full control over how they use it. There is no longer any need to have a guaranteed level of income, nor is there any limit on how much or how little you can take out of your pension fund. You can leave it invested for as long as you want or take it all in one go, if you want. You can switch options and alter how you use your pension as your circumstances change.

To take full control of your pension and use the pension freedoms you need a product called flexi-access drawdown.

Naturally there are some serious concerns that people consider the long term implications on how they use their pension fund. For this reason some people will need to receive financial advice before they can access their pension. The most obvious examples would be customers who have a final salary scheme worth more than £30,000, and customers with personal pensions that contain special guarantees.