Receiving Your Personal Pension

From April 2010, the minimum age at which you'll be able to take your personal or stakeholder pension will be 55, although you can defer this until age 75. When you do retire, you can take up to 25% of the value of your total pension savings (from all sources) as a tax-free lump sum, up to a maximum of 25% of the 'lifetime allowance' for that tax year (this will be £1.8 million from 2010 to 2015). However, if your total pension savings from all sources is £18,000 or less, you may be able to take the whole amount as a cash lump sum, with 25% tax-free.

After you've taken any tax-free lump sum, you have a number of options:

• Use the remaining fund you've built up to buy an annuity (a regular income payable for life)
• Draw a taxable income directly from your pension fund, as an Unsecured Pension (before age 75)
• Draw a taxable income directly from your pension fund, as an Alternatively Secured Pension (from age 75)

Find out more about how each of these choices work by selecting an option from the menu below.