Enter your pot and any lump sum allowance you have used to see your tax-free cash, and the income tax if you take the whole pot at once.
You can take up to 25% of a pension as a tax-free lump sum. Across all your pensions the tax-free total is capped by the lump sum allowance of £268,275, less any you have already used.
If you take the whole pot in one tax year, the part that is not tax-free is added to your other income for that year and taxed at 20%, 40% and 45% on the 2026/27 bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Your £12,570 personal allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income above £100,000. Scottish income tax bands are different.
Taking taxable cash from a pension brings in the money purchase annual allowance of £10,000 a year for later payments into defined contribution pensions. Figures checked on gov.uk on 26 October 2026. The Budget on 28 October 2026 can change them.
Defined benefit schemes, protected tax-free cash and pension benefits taken before 6 April 2024 have their own rules, and a withdrawal can affect means-tested benefits. An adviser checks these and what you plan to do with the cash.
This is information. It is not a personal recommendation. Whether any of it is right for you depends on your circumstances. The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invest. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances and on current rules, which can change.
It is up to 25% of each pension. The £268,275 lump sum allowance caps the total across all your pensions, so where your pensions add up to more than £1,073,100 the tax-free part is less than 25%.
No. You can take it as one lump sum and leave the rest invested, or take smaller sums from the pot with a quarter of each one tax-free.
As income in the tax year you take it, on top of your other income. A large sum in one year can push part of it into the 40% or 45% band, and above £100,000 of income your personal allowance starts to fall.
You can, and 25% normally comes out free of tax. Taking taxable income cuts what you can pay back in to £10,000 a year.
Read the answer →Once taken, the money is outside the pension and inside your estate.
Read the answer →You can normally take 25% free of tax and the rest is taxed as income.
Read the answer →An annuity pays a guaranteed income and is normally permanent. Drawdown leaves the money invested, with the risk staying with you, and you can use both.
Read the answer →Enter your pot, the income you want and a growth rate to see the age the pot runs out and the income tax on each year's withdrawal.
Work it out →Enter what went into your pensions in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 to see how much you can pay in during 2026/27.
Work it out →Enter your estate and your pensions to compare the inheritance tax on a death before 6 April 2027 with a death on or after it.
Work it out →Your first call is with an Account Manager and is at no cost to you. Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write.