Your options at retirement
Once you’ve thought about how much you’ll need at retirement and considered whether you’re on track, it’s good to think about how you’d like to receive your benefits.
If you leave your pension in the Scheme and don’t transfer it elsewhere, you can:
- Take all your benefits as a pension (a regular guaranteed income)
- Take a portion of your benefits as a tax-free cash lump sum and the rest as a pension (this will be a lower amount than you’d receive if you hadn’t taken a portion as cash). Please note that specific limits within the Scheme and by HMRC apply to the amount you can take as tax-free cash.
If you want more options and greater flexibility in terms of how you take your benefits, you also have the option of ‘transferring out’. However, your DB pension is a valuable benefit so it’s important to think carefully before you do – it may not be the right choice for you and the decision is irreversible.
Find out more about transferring out